


Life In An Instant

by tmtcltb



Category: The Last Ship (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:41:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 28,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27072886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmtcltb/pseuds/tmtcltb
Summary: Bleeding out on the jungle floor, Javier "Teylor" Cruz reflects on the woman he loves.
Kudos: 2





	1. Paracel Islands – February 2016

**Author's Note:**

> A/N - I realized that I never posted Life in an Instant on A03, so I am moving over the first twenty-six previously posted chapters and then adding the remainder in real time. This story is set in Season 3, but exists mostly in the same universe as Home and Journey North (I adjusted the timeline to fit the show better so the stories don't quite line up). Some of the material here may be familiar as there is some overlap but I thought that Cruz deserved his own story. As usual, I cannot think of Cruz as a "Javier" so he is Javier "Teylor" Cruz. xoxo - tmtcltb

Teylor thought it was a mosquito, raising his hand to slap it away. Only after he felt the gushing blood did he realize that the brief, sharp pain on the side of his neck hadn't been a bug at all, but a bullet grazing his carotid artery. _That damn sniper._ The man must have been aiming for Teylor's spine, planning to drop him soundlessly the same way he had the others, but missed his target, most likely because of an unexpected gust of the wind.

Almost as soon as the thought registered, Teylor knew that the small error wouldn't matter. This wasn't like Gitmo, where Doctor Scott performed a miracle, sewing him up as he bled out on the beach. This time the woman who had saved the world was far away, safely back in St. Louis. Teylor fell to his knees, his body already starving for oxygen. He groped for his radio, but his arm failed to cooperate, leaving him unable to call for help. In the part of his brain that was still desperately trying to live, he thought he heard someone shout his name, but couldn't respond, his voice no more than a whisper.

He was going to die here. _And he wasn't ready._ Not ready to die here on this god-forsaken island. Not without knowing if their mission was a success. Not when he had so much to live for.

_Caroline..._

Teylor didn't know how long he lay there blinking up at the sky before Danny Green - his commander, his friend, his brother-in-arms, and his brother-by-marriage - appeared at the edge of the small clearing where he lay. If Teylor didn't already know that he was a goner, the look on Danny's face would have told him everything that he needed to know.

Danny was on the radio calling in the helo within seconds of seeing Teylor, the man's strides lengthening until he reached Teylor's side, shifting the pack off his back to grab the first aid kit as he moved. A useless endeavor, but one that Teylor appreciated nonetheless. This way Danny could tell Caroline that he tried everything to save Teylor. That might make her feel better.

Even as the thought occurred to him, Teylor knew how ridiculous it was. _Nothing_ about this would make Caro feel better. Recalling her threat upon the Nathan James' departure from St. Louis, Teylor wondered whether she really would chase him to the gates of hell, just to kill him again, for having the audacity to die on her.

"Hold on T. We've got you. Just hold on..." Teylor let his eyes drift closed, not wanting to see the desperation in his friend's face. "Patch me through now, damn it!"

"Think about your wife, son, your family." This time it was Master Chief Jeter speaking and Teylor forced his eyes open just enough to confirm that the man was actually present, that it wasn't Teylor's oxygen-deprived brain playing tricks on him. At the sight of the Master Chief, Teylor felt a small measure of peace. _They had succeeded_. They had found Takehaya, had rescued the kidnapped sailors, had reunited the crew. If he had to die, at least he did so saving another's life.

"Tell Caroline that I love her." The words were a croak and Danny, who was still working feverishly on Teylor's neck, scowled. Then Green shifted and, for the briefest of moments, Teylor could have sworn that he heard Doctor Scott's voice.

"Tell her yourself you damn bastard! Don't you dare die on me. Cruz! Cruz!"

But Teylor wasn't listening, spending his last few seconds of consciousness picturing the face that he would do anything to see one last time.

_Caroline..._


	2. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina - June 2013

Teylor leaned over the pool table and lined up his shot. Behind him Douglas Jones continued to fret. "You sure this is legit? We aren't going to get back to base and find out they trashed our quarters while we were gone, right?"

Teylor rolled his eyes. "Will you give it a rest? It's not even 0900 yet."

Had it been Benz or Berchem who issued tonight's invitation, Teylor might have been a little more apprehensive. But Lieutenant Green was a straight shooter. If he said that tonight was a get-together for the group to celebrate the end of training, then tonight was a get-together to celebrate the end of training. For the trainees, at least. What the SEAL team was celebrating might be an entirely different matter. Teylor wasn't naive enough to believe that the Naval Mountain Warfare unit was really here for the sole purpose of running the Advanced Training Program that Teylor, Jones, and thirteen of their fellow sailors (half the group they started with) had spent the last eight weeks completing. No, Teylor had little doubt that the SEALs presence in South Caroline was merely a cover but he wasn't complaining. He had found it invigorating being around men who consistently pushed him to his limits physically and mentally. And apparently Teylor had made enough of an impression for Green to single him out, pulling him aside to discuss the possibility of Teylor becoming a SEAL himself. He had been gratified knowing that Green thought he had what it took.

At exactly 0900 the door to the pool hall opened to admit the Naval Mountain Warfare Unit, and they were not alone. Teylor hazard a guess that the woman with her arm around Berchem's waist was his wife. Cruz had been surprised to learn that the man was married. Out of all of the guys on the team, Berchem, who flirted with anyone with a double X chromosome, seemed the least likely to be hitched. Although, to give the man credit, Teylor had never seen him cross the line into anything physical. Teylor had no idea who the woman holding Benz's hand was but, from what he had gathered, the newly-promoted lieutenant had a revolving door of female companions. Next through the door were Smith and Green, followed by a tall willowy blonde whom Teylor identified as Green's girlfriend from pictures, and a shorter, curly-haired brunette. Teylor took a guess that the brunette was with Smith, which was slightly surprising since the man seemed to have minimal interest in the opposite sex, rarely joining in the type of locker room talk that was the norm around the base.

The brunette looked up, and Teylor realized that he had been caught staring. Her lips curved into a smile as she took the opportunity to lazily check him out as well. Teylor's eyes dropped as she licked her lips, hoping like hell that she was not, in fact, Smith's date for the evening.

"Gentleman! Good to see everybody." Green quickly ran through the introductions, his hand gesturing towards the brunette at the very end. "And that is my pain-in-the-ass sister Caroline."

Teylor almost choked. _This_ was the woman that the Naval Mountain Warfare team referred to as the wicked witch of the west?

Green pulled out his wallet. "First round on me. What is everyone drinking?"

Teylor held up his Diet Pepsi without a word. Suddenly Caroline Green was next to him, lifting the soda from his hand to take a healthy sip. "Are you a teetotaler or a lightweight?"

Teylor shrugged. He had taken much worse shit from his brother about his drinking habits (or, more appropriately, lack of drinking habits). Of course, that was mostly because Oz disliked drinking alone. "I like the taste."

After a second's stunned pause, Caroline threw her head back and laughed. When she finished, she tilted her head to the side, eyes narrowing on him. "You recovering?"

Teylor considered her question as he retrieved his drink. It wasn't a question many people asked, and he wondered what had happened in her life to make her sensitive to the issue. "Nope. Just like to pace myself. Especially around a commanding officer. Vomiting on a superior's shoes is generally a bad idea."

A slow smile spread across Caroline's face. "Hey Danny! Cruz changed his mind. We're going to do shots. Tequila."

Teylor didn't respond to the challenge, simply picking up his soda and draining the can. If Ms. Caroline Green thought that he was a lightweight, she was in for a hell of a surprise.

When Green reappeared by their side, he placed a bottle of Diet Pepsi and four shots of tequila on the edge of the pool table. Teylor expected some sort of lecture from Green about keeping his hands to himself, but Green directed his warnings at his sister. "Play nice Caro. I'd hate to screw up my evening with a trip to the ER for alcohol poisoning."

From across the room Benz gave Teylor a salute, before doubling over with laughter. "Good luck, man. You're going to need it."

Teylor glance from one man to another, wondering what he had managed to get himself into. "Something you want to tell me?"

"You'll be fine." Green slapped him on the back. "Don't worry. We'll make sure you get home afterwards. And I promise not to write you up if you puke on me like Benz did the first and only time he and Caro did shots."

Teylor raised an eyebrow. He had seen these guys drink and they sure as shit could hold their alcohol. Tonight just became far more interesting. Teylor picked up one of the glasses. "Salud."

"Salud." And Caroline chugged her shot without a moment's hesitation.

Teylor wasn't sure how many hours had passed, or how many shots he and Caroline had done, when he dragged his attention away from the woman in front of him and realized that most of their group was gone. Green had left earlier with Rebecca, after getting Teylor's assurance that he would escort Caroline back to her hotel and then flipping his sister the bird when she told Green to try to get out of bed before dinner the following day. Berchem and Smith disappeared not much later. At some point Benz and the other guys from the training program must have departed as well, leaving only Caroline, Teylor and Jones.

After pouring Jones into a cab, Teylor turned to Caroline, unable to take his eyes off her. Despite knowing her for only a few hours, he was half in love with the woman. Funny, observant and obviously smart as hell, Teylor had no idea how Caroline had gotten such a bad reputation with Green's friends.

Sliding into the back of the next cab, Teylor abruptly realized that he had no idea where they were going. "I forgot to ask you which hotel you are staying at."

Her twinkling laugh as she gave the driver directions brought a goofy smile to his face. God he could get used to that sound.

As they pulled up before her hotel, Teylor was only mildly surprised when Caroline tugged him out of the cab with her. Caroline Green was definitely not the coy type. Leaning against the wall, Teylor watched as she unlocked her door, her hands steady despite the amount of alcohol she had consumed. Caroline hadn't been lying when she said that her tolerance was high. Teylor had seen men twice her size leveled by that much tequila. The door finally gave and Caroline tugged Teylor inside before backing him up against an interior wall.

"Is this the part where you roll me and steal my money?"

Caroline licked her lips, her smile predatory as she slipped her arms around his neck and pressed a delicate kiss against his jawline. "I have something much more fun in mind. Although, come to think of it, there might be some rolling."


	3. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina - June 2013

_The Next Morning..._

"I need to check on Jones but I'm free later if you want to get together." Teylor pulled his shirt over his head, sparing a glance to where Caro lay curled up in bed. He grinned at the sight of her wrapped only in a sheet. Last night had taken a turn for the better when Caroline Green walked into that bar. And he didn't just mean the sex, although he certainly wasn't complaining. Talking with Caro, playing pool, horsing around at the bar. Everything about last night had been so easy, so effortless.

_Definitely worth repeating_.

Caro sat up, the sheet pooling at her waist, a fact of which she was well-aware if the gleam in her eye was any indication. "Lunch?"

Teylor felt her gaze on his ass when he bent over to retrieve his shoes. "No time. I have to make sure that Jones is on his feet for afternoon PT. Tonight?"

"I have dinner plans with Danny and Rebecca but we should be done by midnight. I could give you a call then," Caro replied, reaching for her cell phone. "Number?"

Grabbing the phone, Teylor added himself, resisting the urge to make a lame joke and simply putting his name in the contact information. Checking his watch and determining that he did, in fact, really have to go, Teylor sat down on the bed next to Caro. "Or I could join you for dinner."

"And exactly what excuse would I give Danny for letting you join us when I told him that his team wasn't welcome?" Caro teased.

Teylor shrugged, twisting a brown curl around his finger. "Tell him the truth."

Caro stared at him blankly. "You want me to tell my brother that we had sex? Do you have a death wish?"

"No, not that," Teylor replied with a chuckle. He leaned forward to capture her mouth in a brief kiss, pulling away before things got out of hand. "Just tell him that we hit it off and want to spend a little more time together."

"Ha!" Caro began laughing. "Believe me, you do not want to open that can of worms. Danny's my older brother. He'll probably spend dinner quizzing you on your _intentions_. God knows that the man is anything but subtle."

Teylor could see her point. It's what he would have done had the situations been reversed and Green wanted to hang out with Teylor's younger sister.

"He's going to find out sooner or later if we keep seeing each other," Teylor pointed out.

Caro shrugged. "Not if we don't tell him."

Teylor straightened, all lightheartedness disappearing, although he tried to keep his tone casual. After all, Caro wasn't military. She didn't understand the bonds that he had with these men. She couldn't. She didn't understand what she was asking. "Caroline. Your brother and I are friends. He's also my superior officer. If we are going to see each other again I have to tell him what is going on. It's the only honorable thing to do."

He wasn't prepared for her response.

"Well then, I guess the solution is obvious," Caro replied, swinging her feet off the bed and pulling on a pair of sweatpants. Before Teylor could process what was happening she was at the door, gesturing for him to leave. "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out."


	4. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina - July 2013

_One month later..._

x

_Fuck._

Teylor froze, momentarily blocking the entrance to their usual Friday night hangout. Jones, walking closely behind, immediately crashed into him. Despite the repeated assurances of Frankie apparently-talking-out-of-his-ass Benz that Carolina Green was six states and seven hundred miles away in Connecticut, she was not only in the State of North Carolina, but she was _here_. In Jacksonville. In this bar. Standing less than thirty feet away playing pool and sipping on a Diet Pepsi.

"What the hell..." Doug began, but Teylor ignored him in favor of moving quickly into a corner of the shadowy room, hoping against hope that Caro had somehow missed his entrance.

Grumbling an apology, Teylor wondered how quickly he could make his escape without raising eyebrows. It wasn't that Teylor hadn't had his share of awkward morning after run-ins. There was, for example, the time when he was nineteen that he managed to sleep with an ex-girlfriend's new roommate and ran into the ex while searching for coffee the next morning, resulting in a scene of such epic proportions that the police were called. But such incidents were largely in his past now and, when he did hook up, he tried to make sure that things ended on a friendly note.

With Caroline Green, however, remaining friendly was not an option, something that she made abundantly clear when he texted her a few days after their disastrous conversation in an attempt to smooth things over. Her response had been pointed, not in a complimentary way, and taught Cruz a new curse – something that he didn't know was possible given that he was fluent in two languages and could carry a conversation in a third. Somehow he doubted that time would have changed her mind, a belief that was reinforced when Frankie appeared at his side.

Shoving one of the beers he held in Teylor's hand, apparently his version of an apology, Frankie glanced over his shoulder in Caro's direction. "So, turns out that the Wicked Witch elected to make a surprise trip to see brother dearest this weekend. I would keep my distance if I were you. She practically frothed at the mouth when I mentioned your name. What did you do to piss her off anyway?"

Jones glanced between the two men, cleared confused. "I don't remember anything happening. I didn't puke on her shoes did I?"

Teylor shook his head in the negative. Jones's intoxication had provided the perfect cover for Teylor's activities that night, the man still passed out drunk when Teylor arrived back on base pissed off. Upon waking the guy had immediately – albeit incorrectly – attributed his buddy's black mood to the vomit on the bathroom floor, an assumption that Teylor never bothered to correct.

"Can't be that," Frankie replied. "She's pissed at Cruz, not you."

"Aren't you the one always saying that she's completely irrational?" Teylor retorted, hoping that Frankie wouldn't press the point. Omissions were one thing but outright lying...

Frankie chuckled, taking a large gulp of his beer. "Good point. She hates me because she thinks that I'm trying to get rid of Green's girlfriend."

"You _are_ trying to get rid of Green's girlfriend," Teylor pointed out.

"True, but she doesn't _know_ that. She just suspects it." Frankie grinned. "Anyway, watch yourself. That pussycat has claws."

Teylor shot a glare at Jones as the man chuckled at Frankie's terrible joke. "Don't worry, I'll keep my distance."

"I don't think she's seen you yet," Frankie offered before disappearing, presumably back to the pool tables where Caro was currently kicking Berchem's ass. Jones said something but Teylor ignored him as he made a beeline for an empty table at the back of the room.

_Maybe, just maybe, he could actually get out of this night unscathed._

Two hours later, having watched the SEAL team leave ten minutes prior, Teylor found himself finally relaxing. Despite catching sight of him while she and Rebecca made a trip to the bathroom, Caro had not acknowledged him in any way. Although the snub stung slightly, Teylor suspected that it was about the best he could hope for. Trying to catch the bartender's gaze at the crowded bar, Teylor felt a hand touch his arm.

He turned to find a petite blond dressed in a pair of skin-tight jeans and a halter top perched on the barstool next to him. Not really his type, but more than passably pretty. He wasn't surprised to get a glare from the young sailor sitting on her other side. The girl smiled, sliding one of the beers that the bartender was setting down in Teylor's direction. "That one is for you."

The bartender raised his eyebrow at Teylor, the question clear. "I'm good."

Lifting the glass, Teylor took a sip before turning his attention back to the blond. "Thanks. You here with friends?"

"All by myself," the blonde replied, her voice gravely. "You?"

"Unfortunately for you, _no_." A sharp voice interjected, grabbing the beer that Teylor was holding and downing it in two long swigs. Caro gave the blonde one more look before turning her fury on Teylor. "Time to go. _Now_."

His jaw tightening, Teylor considered refusing. After all, he _wasn't_ here with someone and if he wanted to chat up every damn woman in the place, he had every right to do so. But then he caught Jones' eye, noting the terrified look on the other man's face, and he remembered who he was dealing with. Teylor might disagree with Benz on some points, but the SEAL was right about one thing. Pissing off Caroline Green was not a good idea.

"Fine, let's go."

Glancing at the woman at the bar apologetically, Teylor followed Caro outside and away from the crowd, hoping that word of this wouldn't get back to Green or Benz. He let her drag him almost an entire block before digging in his heels. "Where the hell are we going?"

"The DuPont," Caro replied without slowing her stride.

Hurrying to catch up – it was late, after all, and he didn't want Caro out here alone – Teylor tried to figure out why they were headed to her hotel. "Why?"

At that Caro stopped, turning around with her hands on her hips, giving him a look that told him quite plainly how idiotic she found the question. "Because I'm pissed at you. So we can do two things. We can fight or we can fuck. Take your pick."

Teylor watched, confounded, as Caro stormed down the street. But, as his eyes fell to her ass, which fit delightfully into her jeans, he knew that there really wasn't much of a choice.

_And damn it all, Caroline knew it too._


	5. Norfolk, Virginia - September 2013

When Frankie mentioned over the pathetic excuse for cheeseburgers served by the base cafeteria that Caroline Green would be in town this weekend, Teylor found himself feeling strangely relieved. For the first time in months, there was no need to figure out a way to see Caro on the sly. No need to lie to his friends or teammates about his plans. No arguments over Caro's insistence on keeping their relationship a secrete. In fact, if Frankie hadn't said something, Teylor would never have known that Caro was coming and, given that Caro had blocked his number before the transfer orders arrived, she sure as hell wouldn't be looking for him here in Norfolk.

Still, the knowledge that Caro was here was enough to convince Teylor to decline Jones' offer to join them at Shippers in favor of takeout and an early morning at the gym, claiming a need to detox from the absurd amount of alcohol that he had consumed over the last few months while hanging out with the SEALs. So when he opened the door to his apartment, exact change in hand for the delivery guy who was over an hour late, Caroline Green was the last person he expected to see on the other side. Or, at least, that's the reason he gave himself for why he didn't simply shut the door when he saw her standing there with a hot fudge sundae – a peace offering she had termed it – and claiming that her brother was driving her crazy. Any pretense that she was there to talk disappeared the moment that the door closed behind her.

Teylor leaned back against his headboard, watching Caro as she lounged on her belly, wearing only his t-shirt and eating the now rather melted ice cream. "What are Danny and Rebecca up to?"

"Rebecca didn't come with me," Caro mumbled around a spoonful of fudge.

"Why did you come then?" Teylor asked, blinking at her in surprise.

Caro rolled her eyes. "To see my brother, of course. Don't worry though. He doesn't suspect anything. Danny thinks I am on my way home right now."

Teylor snorted, realizing only after Caro gave him a puzzled look that she was serious. Her trip here wasn't boredom or an excuse to see Teylor or even to get laid. She really had come to Norfolk to see her brother. "But all you and Danny do when you're together is fight."

Teylor watched as Caro licked the spoon, then her lip. "Danny and I don't fight."

Again he paused for the punchline, only to realize that she was serious. " _All_ the two of you do is fight. I've never seen you getting along. Hell, he's always talking about how impossible you are."

At that, Caro shrugged. "I am impossible. It's a fact."

Teylor opened his mouth to press the point, but hesitated when he saw the way she was fiddling with her spoon. _A tell_. This was the first time he had seen Caroline show vulnerability. She was usually so confident, so certain of who she was and where she stood. Teylor recalled all the times that Frankie railed about how difficult Caroline could be, how irritating he found her, how annoyed he was that Danny included her in their plans. For the first time, Teylor wondered. _Did Caro know what the guys said about her? Did she know that Danny laughed, rather than defend her?_ Teylor tried to reverse the situation, wondering how he would feel if his sister and her friends dreaded seeing him or, even worse, openly mocked him.

_It would hurt_.

Teylor felt a tinge of anger on Caro's behalf. What was Green thinking? Didn't he realize how upsetting the comments were? And why did Caro put up with it? Not that Teylor was one to talk. His relationship with Caroline Green was the definition of unhealthy. Which is why he knew better than to attempt a serious conversation. "You aren't impossible. Maybe a little stubborn..."

The drew a snort. "Just a little."

"But, hey, better than being a wet noodle," Teylor continued, giving a fake shudder. He and Caro were in agreement on that point. There was nothing good about a shrinking violet. Encouraged by the fact that Caro was again eating ice cream and not, for example, throwing on her clothes to make a quick escape, Teylor stepped out on a limb. "So what do you and Danny do when you visit? When you aren't fighting, of course."

Caro gave him a hard look before returning to her ice cream. "Nothing special. Hang out. Grab dinner or drinks. We're only a year apart, you know. And we grew up in a small town. Same friends. Same school. Same, well, everything until he joined up. Sometimes it's nice hanging out just the two of us. All that history makes it easy, you know?"

Teylor grunted in response. He did.

"What do you do with your siblings when you get together?" Caro continued.

Distracted by the way that she licked the spoon, Teylor almost missed the question. "Mas is a _priest_. What do you think we do together? Go out drinking?"

Caro's nose wrinkled and she laughed. A real laugh, one accompanied by a smile. She sat up, tucking her legs underneath her, reaching over to put the now empty ice cream container on the nightstand. "I hadn't considered that. Is that why you don't always drink? Because of your brother?"

Teylor considered the question. "Mas drinks, actually. Just not much. And not at bars. But at family events he'll have a scotch sometimes."

"Is it weird, having a priest for a brother?" Caro continued.

Teylor shrugged. "It changed things. No way am I going to call him up and tell him about a one-night stand anymore. And obviously there's a lot about his work that he can't share. I see Oz more anyway."

Not that he and Oz had much in common these days either. Married with three little girls, Oz didn't have time for nights out either. Although Oz did make a point of visiting Teylor at least one weekend a year, claiming to need a break from all the estrogen in his house.

"What about your sister?" Caro asked. "You don't say much about her."

_Maria_. Teylor sighed, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling as he thought about his younger sister. There was a reason that he rarely mentioned her. But Caro had shared, and Teylor felt the need to return the favor. "Maria's the wild child in our family. Got pregnant at sixteen, ran off to get married, then got divorced only to get pregnant _again_. The boys' dad disappeared years ago. I try to spend time with them when I'm home. Be a role model. But Maria doesn't always want us around. Says that we don't support her choices. That we judge her. Mas handles her best."

There was silence for a few minutes before Caro curled up against him, head on his chest. "So basically Maria is me."

Teylor snapped back to the present, rolling to his side to face Caro. "What the hell are you talking about? Maria screwed up her life years ago and now she wants us all to pretend that it never happened. You're nothing like that."

"But she's the _difficult_ one in your family. Like me. You said it yourself. Danny thinks I'm impossible." Caro stopped, before explaining. "Do you think that Danny and I would still be close if I didn't make the effort? If I didn't come visit him? Because we both know that he wouldn't make the effort to come see me. He barely makes time for Rebecca."

"So why do you?" Teylor asked, twisting a strand of her hair. "Put the effort in? Are you as close with Chris?"

Caro snorted. "Chris is sixteen. His idea of a good time is putting saran wrap over the toilet so that I get splash back. I'm waiting for him to grow up and become tolerable."

Privately Teylor suspected that Caroline had a long wait, given that some of the new guys on the VBSS team pulled that stunt only last week, but he elected to keep that thought to himself. "So why put in the effort with Green?"

"I don't have that many friends. I don't want to lose the ones I do have." And there it was again. The look on her face tore at Teylor. _Vulnerability_.

Teylor wondered if that was why Caro was so determined to keep this thing between them, whatever it was, a secret. If she feared that Danny finding out would backfire not on Teylor, but on Caro.

_Food for thought - for another day._

Raising an eyebrow, Teylor drew a hand down the length of her leg. "Soooo, am I one of those friends?"

Rolling her eyes at the completely and utterly lame response, Caro swung a leg over Teylor, pushing him back against the mattress. "Not yet. But you are welcome to show me what you've got."


	6. Norfolk, Virginia - October 2013

Teylor slammed his phone down on the cafeteria table, cursing under his breath. The uncharacteristic display drew the attention of the remainder of the team.

"What's going on?" Frankie asked, shifting on the bench so he was facing Teylor. "Don't think I've ever seen you this worked up before. So what is it? Girl problems?"

Knowing that Frankie would continue to nag until answered, Teylor decided to go with the truth. "Caroline Green is a menace to the human race."

The table became very quiet as Danny's eyes swung towards Teylor. "What did my sister do now?"

"See for yourself." Swiping the screen of his cell, Teylor turned it so the entire team could read the message.

"She suggesting that you get checked for herpes?" Frankie asked, before doubling up with laughter. Between spurts, he managed to add, "You have no idea how happy I am that Caroline has found a new target. Can you believe I dealt with this bullshit for almost five years? It's hard, man, really hard."

Danny, however, didn't seem to be quite as amused as Frankie. Reading the message, he began scrolled up, causing Teylor to sweat slightly. Caro wasn't really one to text, preferring in-person communication, but there was the possibility that he or Caro might have said _something_ that would clue Danny in on what was really going on. "Why is Caro texting you?"

Green's tone was neutral, and for the briefest of moments, Teylor considered confessing all. Cleaning the slate. After all, the guilt of knowing that he was sleeping with a teammate's sister - and lying about it by omission - weighed on him. But even as the thought occurred to him, Teylor knew that he wasn't going to say anything. Not because doing so would infuriate Caro, but because she would see it as a betrayal, as Teylor choosing to put his friendship with Danny over his relationship with her. Telling Danny would almost certainly end whatever was growing between them.

_And that was a choice that Teylor wasn't ready to make it._

Teylor rolled his eyes. "As you can see, she seems to think it's the most efficient manner of insulting me."

Danny stopped scrolling, his face suddenly breaking into a smile as he passed the phone back. " _I'll use small words so that you'll be sure to understand, you warthog faced buffoon."_

Benz, who was just starting to get himself under control, doubled over again and even Smith smiled. Berchem paused, fork halfway to his mouth. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"Princess Bride," Danny responded. "And don't say you haven't seen it. _Everyone_ has seen that movie."

"So what did you do this time?" Douglas Jones asked.

Teylor shrugged. "I made the mistake of suggesting that she try a new brand of scotch. Apparently she's very loyal to Macallen."

"Caroline mentioned that the two of you had become drinking buddies," Danny said, surprising Teylor. "Anyway, just ignore her when she gets in a mood. She doesn't care. Gives her time to cool down."

Losing interest in his sister's antics, Danny stood. "Anyone else headed to the gym?"

Frankie, Steven and Doug joined Danny, leaving Teylor with only Smith for company. Since the other man continued to quietly eat his cheeseburger, Teylor had plenty of time to consider Green's parting words. _Caroline told her brother they were drinking buddies._ The question was why? True, Caro hadn't told Danny the truth, instead suggesting that Teylor was nothing more than a person to occupy the bar stool next to her but, still, she said _something_. Was that a first step towards coming clean? Or merely a slip of the tongue?

Picking up his phone, Teylor considered Caro's snarky message before beginning to type out a response. Because he might not know how Caro felt about him or why she told her brother that they were drinking buddies, but he did know that Green was wrong about one thing. Caro wasn't okay with being ignored. Not at all. _"What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard."_

Less than a minute later his phone beeped. _"Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it."_

Smiling, Teylor replied. _"May God have mercy on your soul."_

"Good call."

Teylor's head snapped up, having forgotten that Smith was still at the table. "Huh?"

"On texting her back," Jason observed. "Green sucks at dating advise, by the way. Never _ever_ ignore a woman. Makes them go all crazy."

_Shit_. Teylor carefully set down his phone, gazing at Jason evenly. "I don't need dating advice."

Jason didn't reply, simply returning his attention to his cheeseburger. As the silence stretched, Teylor tried to figure out what the guy might know - or might think that he knew. Smith was just so quiet. Half the time Teylor forgot that he was around. "Are you going to tell Green?"

Jason lifted an eyebrow. "Tell him what?"

Letting out a sigh of relief, Teylor stood, collecting his tray. "Thanks. I owe you one."

Halfway across the cafeteria, Teylor barely heard the response. "You and everyone else."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - in case you didn't recognize them, the quotes are from Princess Bride and Billy Madison.


	7. Norfolk, Virginia - November 2013

Teylor snapped his phone shut, leaning back against the bench in the training room. His eyes closed as he considered how he would spend the next few hours now that his plans for the evening, which mostly centered around a scheduled call with Caroline, were scuttled.

_We don't have that kind of relationship._

Caro had used the words before, but Teylor hated them just as much now as he did then. The in-your-face reminder that, no matter how often Caroline Green showed up at his apartment or called him in the middle of the night or pestered him to tell her whether her behavior was _really_ that bad, something which had now happened often enough for Teylor to realize that deep down Caro _did_ care what people thought of her, it all meant nothing.

Because at the end of the day, he was still her dirty little secret. Her friend with benefits - assuming he qualified as a friend.

Teylor hadn't really expected her to say yes. He knew that he was going out on a limb asking her to join him at the Marines Corps Ball even if Green was currently in Africa on temporary assignment, meaning that their chances of running into him were zilch. Still, the rejections stung. As Teylor recalled telling Caroline days earlier, sometimes it wasn't _what_ she said but rather the _way_ she said it that was so off-putting.

"Why do you let her do that to you?"

Teylor's head snapped up to find Douglas Jones feet away, one towel around his waist and another slung around his neck. When had the other man arrived?

"Let who do what?" Teylor asked cautiously.

"Your girl," Doug paused. "Unless it's a guy. If it is, pretty sure I don't want to know given how many times you've seen my bare ass."

Teylor lifted an eyebrow. "Think you're confusing me with Bishop."

"Bishop?" Doug demanded. "Really?"

"Of course not, jackass. And you can't say that shit in public. Someone will get pissy and you'll get written up." Teylor chucked a towel at the guy.

"Damn, that would have made my day." At Teylor's hard stare, Jones took a few steps back, hands up to defend himself. "Kidding, kidding. But seriously, Tey. This girl is in your head, and not in a good way. Your phone goes off and suddenly you are in the mood from hell. It's like dealing with PMS which, by the way, is even less fun when there's no chance of getting a blow job out of it. Pretty sure that there are easier ways to get laid."

Teylor scowled, opening his mouth to tell Doug that he was nuts, but found that he couldn't. Because Doug wasn't wrong. Caro _was_ in his head. Even when she wasn't around he couldn't relax, the fear of slipping and revealing more than he should keeping him on edge. The desire to tell Green everything warring with the fear that Caro would never speak to him again if he did. Hell, half the time Teylor felt like a damn girl, wondering _where their relationship was headed._ But as lame as that was, Teylor was tired of screwing around. He wanted to get married, have kids, settle down like his brother. He wanted to have someone to sleep with every night, someone to talk to while he was out to sea, someone to be there when the ship docked.

_At the very least he didn't want to have to beg for a date to the damn Marine Ball._

"PMS, really?"

"Hey, man, it's your life. I just hope the chick is worth it." Doug shrugged, moving towards his locker as Teylor's phone beeped again. "Might as well check it. We both know you're like a moth flying too close to the sun."

Teylor paused with his phone in hand. "You realize that made no sense. It's a moth to the flame or Icarus flying too close to the sun."

Doug shrugged, pulling on his pants. "Eh. You knew what I meant."

Deciding that Doug's inability to speak a single language fluently was the least of his problems, Teylor checked his messages, a smile creeping across his face.

_On second thought, I do enjoy a man in uniform. But if Jones pukes on me, you are a dead man._

"Do I want to know?" Doug asked, sliding his dog tags over his head. "And, just in case there's any doubt, if it's a naked selfie, I definitely want to know."

"Not a chance in hell." Teylor snorted. He paused, standing and gathering his gear before adding. "But you'll get a chance to see her in person next Saturday."

"The ball?" Doug replied, eyebrows raising. "Guess this is serious."

Laughing, Teylor swung his bag over a shoulder, hesitating at the door. Turning back to where Doug was throwing gear into his bag, Teylor spoke. "She is."

"She's what?" Doug asked.

"Worth it."


	8. Norfolk, Virginia - November 2013

"I thought you had a date?"

Teylor considered the gum-smacking, anorexic twenty-year-old who was currently scrubbing at the lipstick on her teeth using her phone as a mirror. Caro was going to hate her on sight, and that's before she found out that Jones had known the girl for less than a month. Actually, a month might be generous, given that Doug couldn't remember the poor girl's name half the time. Unfortunately, Teylor had committed to giving his friend a ride so here he was, running the risk of being late and - more importantly - pissing Caro off.

"Because if you don't, my roommate would love to come. She was pretty bummed that I got invited and she didn't." From the triumphant look on Ashley's face, Teylor suspected that she more than a little pleased with the situation herself.

"Don't you worry about Cruz over there," Doug chimed in, finally emerging from the bathroom looking mostly presentable. "He has a date. She's making him pick her up at the hotel. High maintenance, that one."

Finally finishing with her teeth, Ashley frowned, no doubt due to the fact that she had not been offered the same door-to-door service. Teylor spoke quickly, not wanting to listen to her and Doug bicker. "Let's get a move on."

Thankfully the ride to Caro's hotel was quick, less than ten minutes, and relatively quiet. Unfortunately, the silence was shattered the moment that Ashley saw the flowers that Teylor had stashed in his trunk so the vase wouldn't fall over.

"Why didn't _I_ get flowers?" she whined.

Before Teylor could respond, Doug showing no inclination to defend himself, another voice cut in. "I wasn't aware that we were attending as chaperones tonight."

Stifling a groan, Teylor turned, ready to defend himself but the words died in this throat. "You look beautiful."

Such an obvious word, one thrown around far too often, yet the only one that fit. Caro's black gown was the opposite of flashy, the high-cut neckline and full sleeves almost conservative, yet the simplicity of the dress highlighted her hourglass figure, the dark color accentuating the paleness of her skin and the deep brown of her eyes. Her curls were piled casually atop her head, the simple gold clip on the right side of her hair a match to the thick cuff on her left arm.

Her eyes fell to the lilies that he held. "Are those for me?"

"Of course."

Taking the flowers, Caro raised the blooms to her face. "They're lovely. I'll put them in my room and be right back."

The moment that Caro disappeared, Doug grabbed Teylor by the arm. "Are you totally insane? Caroline Green? I thought she hated you! And what about her brother?"

"Why are you going to the ball with someone who hates you?" Ashley asked, confused.

"Don't listen to Jones. He's kind of a drama queen," Teylor responded, before replying to Doug. "It's fine. All good. Just no pictures, just in case."

"What the fu..." Doug stopped himself, shaking his head. "I hope that you know what you are doing. I really do. Because if the guys at the door recognize her name and decide to preemptively kick your ass, you are on your own."

Despite Doug's concerns, their arrival at the ball went without a hitch, and an hour later Teylor was steering Caro and Ashley towards their table while Doug waited in line for drinks. As anticipated, Ashley was not endearing herself to Caro.

"I though that there would be famous people here," Ashley whined. "Who has even _heard_ of William Shepard?"

"You mean the Navy SEAL turned astronaut who received a Congressional Space Medal of Honor?" Caro intoned. "I know what you mean. Such a lame speaker. There are just _so_ many people who have served on the ISS."

"ISIS?" Ashley snapped. "He was in ISIS?"

"ISS is the International Space Station," Teylor corrected before Caro could, reluctantly impressed that she recognized the name, even if it was just because she looked the man up beforehand. For all of Caro's faults, ignorance was not one of them. Caro shot Teylor an amused smirk as Doug returned, setting four drinks down on the table. As Teylor picked up his Diet Pepsi, Caro drained a glass of champagne in a single sip before reaching over to collect a second glass.

"Hey!" Doug said, blocking her hand. "One each."

"Oh, please, as though Brittany there is actually twenty-one."

Doug narrowed his eyes at Caro, clearly leery of antagonizing her. "Her name is Ashley."

"How much money do you want to bet that her license says Brittany?" Caro queried.

There was a moment of silence before Doug shrugged, apparently indifferent to his date's fake license, allowing Caro to pick up the second glass. She took a sip, looking around. "I've never been to one of these. It's nicer than I expected. Less prom like."

"Really?" Teylor was surprised. Green was on his second enlistment, after all, and Caro spend enough time around the guys to be an obvious option for a date. "That why Benz is so scared of you? You turn him down one time too many?"

Caro fiddled with her glass before her gaze slid up to meet his. "Actually, you were the first to ask."

The answer was so surprising, her candor so unexpected that Teylor scrambled for a response, a dozen possibilities considered and instantly discarded as either too serious or too flippant. Fortunately Doug had no such problem. "He's a big boy. You don't have to lie to make him feel better about himself."

"Says the man who invited a dozen girls before one said yes," Teylor muttered, quietly so that only Doug and Caro could hear. No reason to hurt Ashley's feelings deliberately. She was nice enough, he supposed, if you were into somewhat self-adsorbed teenagers. Teylor offered his arm to Caro. "Since this is your first time, you need the full experience. Let me show you around."

"Wait!"

Teylor looked up just in time to see Doug raising his phone, the sudden flash a good indicator of what was happening. Caro scowled. "If I find that on Facebook..."

"You won't," Doug replied. "Scout's honor. One more? With your eyes open?"

If Teylor hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed that Caro would fall for such a ploy. But apparently she was more concerned about the possibilities of a _bad_ picture than a picture, standing by his side and even smiling as Doug snapped a dozen pictures in a row.

"Are you done?" she demanded.

"Yup, I'll send the best on to Cruz," Doug replied. He waited until Caro had turned before mouthing, _You owe me._

Teylor shrugged. Doug would no doubt demand some completely unreasonable favor, he might even hold the pictures hostage until the favor was done, but Teylor didn't care. Tonight the only thing that mattered was that Caroline was here, with him, and, for a few hours anyway, he wasn't a secret.


	9. Norfolk, Virginia - January 2014

"He isn't answering any of my calls or texts. It's been days!" Caro snapped, her arms flying as she paced back and forth across the livingroom of Teylor's apartment.

Teylor sneaked a peak at his watch, weighing Caro's likely reaction to him suggesting that they order pizza against the rumbling of his stomach. In retrospect the decision to skip lunch and rush home was a poor one, but the last thing Teylor expected upon arriving home from a training exercise was to find Caro on his doorstep, frothing at the mouth over a fight with her brother. Unlike Green, Teylor didn't have leave over the holidays, instead spending the apparently eventful two weeks on the Nathan James.

"Probably doesn't have service in the Bahamas," Teylor replied, too distracted to realize his mistake until it was too late.

"The _Bahamas_?"

Teylor winced. He hadn't known it was possible for a human voice to reach such a pitch. "Yeah, Benz..."

"I should have known that Frankie was behind it," Caro muttered.

Ignoring her for the moment, Teylor continued. " _As I was saying_ , Benz and Smith were planning a trip. Green joined them last minute. Kind of makes sense, if you think about it."

"What do you mean?"

"The guy just broke up with his long-time girlfriend. That can't be easy, even if he was the one doing it," Teylor replied, hoping he wasn't signing his own death warrant. "Bet the last thing he wanted to do on New Year's Eve was go to a party filled with people who knew Rebecca and explain over and over again why she wasn't there."

Caro's eyes narrowed, but her tone was much more even when she spoke. "Did you know what he planned?"

Teylor stared at her. "I've spent six months avoiding the topics of women, _you_ in particular, anytime I'm around your brother, Caro. How exactly would Rebecca have come up?"

"Ugh." Instead of storming out of the apartment, as Teylor half expected, Caro collapsed on the couch, head dropping into her hands. Caro began laughing, the kind of half-hysterical laughter that too often led to tears. "Can you imagine how much of an idiot I felt like? Calling Rebecca to finalize plans for New Year's Eve, not knowing that she and Danny broke up three _days_ before Christmas and he didn't say anything?"

"What did you say when you found out?"

"I asked if he had a piece on the side," Caro said finally, thankfully still looking at the floor so she didn't see Teylor wince. Green would _not_ have taken the accusation well. "I was just so pissed, you know? Three months ago he has me down her helping him shop for engagement rings and then he breaks things off without a word. I have to find out from Rebecca."

Ah, so that explained Caro's random September trip down to Norfolk without Rebecca. Green was ring shopping. Or, at least, he had told his sister that he was. Teylor had not heard so much as a whiff of an impending engagement, surprising given Frankie's general inability to keep a secret.

Teylor gave Caro a considered look. With anyone else, he would have been baffled by the anger over something that was, frankly, none of her business, but with Caro it actually made sense. After years of her brother and best friend dating, Caro was firmly invested in her role as third wheel. Danny and Rebecca breaking up totally redefined a world that, previously, had been neatly compact.

Teylor picked up the phone. "Pepperoni or veggie?"

"What?" Caro's head shot up, her face befuddled, an expression he had never seen before.

Teylor fought a smile. "The deadline for delivery is in fifteen minutes and I'm starving."

Caro's eyes narrowed but, before she could speak, her own stomach rumbled. As the phone began ringing, she caved. "Everything. And get some garlic bread. And maybe a salad. All I've had for days is coffee and vending machine pretzels."

Ninety minutes later, the food having finally arrived, Teylor took a bite from his second slice of pizza. Caro sat back, far calmer than she had been, licking her fingers with a purr of contentment. "I really fucked this up, didn't I?"

Danny's advice floated through Teylor's mind. J _ust ignore Caroline when she gets in a mood. She doesn't care. Gives her time to cool down_.

If only Green knew how wrong he was. Teylor picked up a slice of garlic bread. "Green doesn't want to fight with you any more than you want to fight with him. I'll bet you fifty bucks that the two of you have made up before he's back in Norfolk for twenty-four hours."


	10. Norfolk, Virginia - February 2014

Teylor fingered the bright red ribbon on the box in front of him. He hadn't wrapped it himself, but rather been suckered into paying the extra nine dollars to have it gift-wrapped at the store, an expenditure that now felt rather ridiculous. Caro wouldn't care. Hell, she probably wouldn't care about the present at all. One thing you could definitely say about Caro was that she wasn't materialistic. In fact, given the number of rants that Teylor had listened to over the past six months regarding the problem of consumerism in the United States, usually followed by another rant about "the man," there was a decent chance that Caro's reaction to the gift would be distinct displeasure. Flat-out refusal wasn't off the table or, even worse, a refusal followed by a sarcastic quip regarding the day.

_Valentine's Day? What exactly are we celebrating? The Hallmark invention? Or the decapitation of some third century martyr?_

Maybe he should just throw the thing in the closet and save it for a safer occasion.

Before Teylor could decide, the doorbell rang. Resolving to throw himself to the wolves - or rather _wolf_ in this case - Teylor dropped the colorful box back onto the table, opening the door to find Caro grinning at him, a deck of playing cards in one hand, bottle of vodka in the other.

"How good are you at poker?" She asked without preamble.

"Depends, what are the stakes?" Teylor drawled, leaning against the door jamb.

Caro pretended to consider the question. "Well, we could play for money or ..."

"Or works for me," Teylor replied, moving to the side so that she could step past him into the apartment, leaning down to gather her bag. When he turned, Caro's back was to him, the cards and booze sitting on the table, the package that Teylor now _definitely_ regretted purchasing in her hands.

"Is this for me?" she asked, voice quiet, an awkward tension filling the room.

Teylor busied himself tossing her duffel into the bedroom. "It was for my other girlfriend but since you've seen it, I guess you might as well have it."

"Can I open it?"

"Of course. It's your gift." Teylor leaned against the back of the couch, twisting his Diet Pepsi between his hands, strangely nervous. It wasn't as if the gift was particularly personal. But it was the first time that he had given Caro a real gift. Something that he chose for her. Something with meaning. Something that he hoped would remind her of him when she was somewhere else.

Caro slid her pinky finger under the tape at one end of the package, carefully unwrapping the paper and setting it to the side. She lifted the top off the box, and Teylor caught a glimpse of surprise before her face lit up. Dropping the box to the table, she lifted the forest green jacket to her chest. "Pandora? I've wanted one of these!"

Teylor released a breath that he didn't realize he was holding, moving to the kitchen to gather two shot glasses. Grabbing the vodka, he filled both, leaving Caro's on the table as he moved to the couch.

"I remembered you saying what you wanted one." Teylor replied, shrugging, as though locating the thing hadn't meant combing through three stores, finally ending up at one of those hole-in-the-wall places filled with incense that made him sneeze for the next hour, putting up with a salesperson who kept referring to his "chakra" as though Teylor should know what the hell he was talking about, and fielding dark looks from the other patrons as Jones loudly expressed his disbelief over the fact that the restaurant next door thought that mushrooms could be substituted for a real burger. Obviously the guy did not get out enough. "They seemed nice. Warm anyway."

Folding the jacket neatly and returning it to the box, Caro grabbed her shot, downing it without hesitation. Waiting until he took his, Caro dropped into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You, Teylor Cruz, are a really great guy." Leaning forward, she pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "Thank you for the jacket."

The warmth he felt spreading through him was definitely from the vodka, just the vodka. "You're welcome."

Retrieving the bottle and cards from the table, Caro refilled their glasses as Teylor dealt. Caro smiled as she took her second shot. "Although you should know that today _did_ traditionally involve the sacrificing of goats."


	11. Deridder, Louisiana - April 2014

"You want one?" Oz, Teylor's younger brother by two years, held up his empty Scotch glass.

Teylor glanced at Mas, the oldest of the Cruz brothers, and confirmed that the man was holding his own tumbler before nodding in the affirmative. Oz disappeared onto the dance floor, weeding his way through the wedding crowd, unlikely to be back anytime soon if the number of people calling his name was any indication. Teylor was fairly certain Tia Ceci had invited the entire city to her youngest daughter's wedding, a fact that Teylor's own mother had pointed out with a whiff of disdain, apparently having forgotten that Oz and Eli's wedding was nothing less than a zoo. Not that Teylor minded the crush. He appreciated the opportunity to catch up with his extended family, too often missing events like this when he was out to sea. Besides, the crowd also provided a bit of insulation from his mother and her one track mind, her hints that _a family wedding was the perfect opportunity to introduce a girlfriend-who-might-someday-become-a-wife_ old within an hour of his arrival in Louisiana.

"You planning on scowling at your Diet Pepsi all night," Mas asked. "Or are you want to clue me in on the reason that you're in a piss-poor mood."

Teylor glanced at his oldest brother. "Didn't priest school teach you be nice to people?"

"Sometimes one must be cruel to be kind," Mas replied solemnly.

"Who knew that becoming a priest would make you such a pompous asshole," Teylor retorted.

The comment had no impact on his brother, too used to the trash talking to take it personally. "Anyway, you were telling me the reason for the mood?"

Teylor debated the wisdom of saying anything. Still, Mas _was_ probably the best option. God knew what Oz would say if Teylor tried to confide in him. "I invited someone to come with me. Got turned down flat."

Mas paused. "Someone male, or someone female?"

Teylor flipped his brother the bird. Sure he was supposed to respect the priesthood, but if Mas was going to play big brother, Teylor was going to treat him that way.

Mas threw up his hands. "Kidding, kidding. So why did she say no?"

"Said meeting the family was a big step. Meant a commitment. Said she wasn't sure we were there." Teylor fiddled with his drink.

"Not an unreasonable position," Mas noted. "But you're upset."

The simple observation somehow opened the floodgates. "We've been seeing each other almost a year. We live in different states so our time together is pretty limited, but still, a year. We spend all this time together and yet she doesn't want to meet my family. She doesn't want me to meet hers. Half the time we don't leave the apartment because she's paranoid about running into her brother."

"Why?"

Teylor shifted. "She's the sister of one of my instructors."

"Does this mystery woman have a name?"

"Caroline Green."

"Green?" Mas sounded surprised. "As in Lieutenant Green?"

"Yes, why?" Teylor demanded, instantly on the defense.

Mas's brow furrowed. "You mentioned him, back when you first got into that specialized training program. Said you admired him. Is he not in favor of the relationship?"

For the first time in this conversation, Teylor wished that Oz would get back with the scotch already. Oz would laugh himself silly over Teylor's dilemma - he and Eli got married three months after meeting and their first daughter arrived nine months later - but at least then Teylor would have something to drink. "Green doesn't know. I don't think he does anyway. Caro isn't speaking to him right now."

"Huh." The one word said so much. Mas might not understand anything about military culture, but he knew enough to realize that Teylor was skirting a line. "Why aren't they speaking?"

Teylor shrugged. What had originally seemed like just another one of Caro and Danny's endless spats had turned into something much different, a cold war where neither side would budge. Even Frankie appeared baffled by the abrupt change in their relationship. "Long story. Think Maria style drama."

"Ah." Mas took another sip of his drink. "This woman, Caroline, you must really like her."

Teylor finished the rest of his Pepsi, again wishing that he had something stronger. _Where the hell was Oz? "_ There's something about her. She can be a total shrew, but she's smart and funny and loyal to a fault. We just click."

"But you aren't certain she returns your feelings?" Mas asked.

"I never know where I stand with her," Teylor admitted. "I thought that things were going well. But when I invited her to the wedding, she said no."

Mas stared out onto the dance floor. "I spend a lot of time talking to people in bad marriages. And ninety-nine percent of the time they jumped into marriage without much thought. There's something to be said for taking things slowly."

It wasn't what Teylor was expecting to hear, and he scowled at his brother. "Meeting the family is hardly a marriage proposal."

"Seriously?" Mas demanded, nodding towards the opposite side of the room where their mother stood fussing over the bride, no doubt talking about the great-niece or nephew she expected to welcome in nine months. "You show up here with a girl in tow and Mama is going to have the wedding _and_ your first kid's baptism planned before the day is out and you know it."

Teylor conceded the point with a tip of his empty glass. His family could be a tad overwhelming.

Mas took another sip of his Scotch. "You know what your problem is?"

Teylor considered ignoring the question but curiosity won. "No, what?"

"You've never really cared if things worked out before," Mas observed. "And now that you _do_ care, you're trying to get it all wrapped up in a bow. But a wedding is just an chapter in a relationship. Treat it like a marathon, not a sprint. One year, two years, that is nothing when picking a life partner."

There was no way Teylor was admitting that his brother might have a point. Maybe he was rushing things a little. _Maybe._ "Any other clichés you want to share?"

Mas shrugged, finishing off his drink just in time for Oz to reappear with their refills. "Feel free to ignore me. After all, the last time I had sex was in 2004."

Teylor shuddered. "TMI, man. TMI."


	12. Norfolk, Virginia - May 2014

"Where do people think you go on weekends?" Teylor asked from his spot lounging on the couch, hands wrapped around a coffee cup.

Caro continued reading the newspaper at the kitchen table. The first time the Sunday paper arrived at his door Teylor assumed it was a promotional, immediately tossing the thing into the recycling, something that Caro had not appreciated when she subsequently fished the rather wrinkled paper out of the box. That was how Teylor learned about her Sunday morning ritual of spreading the paper across the table and reading from cover to cover while drinking her coffee. Although he still found the whole thing odd - the internet was far more up-to-date - he had grown used to the domesticity of the morning routine, Caro drinking her coffee and reading while he caught up with whatever game was on television. "What do you mean?"

"Your family, your friends," Teylor explained. "You're here at least once a month, and with Green gone you don't have an excuse to come to Norfolk, so what do people think you are doing?"

Caroline flipped another page of the Sunday newspaper, her brow furrowing, but whether her irritation was directed at him or something she was reading was unclear. Teylor watched while she pulled off the reading glasses that she hated wearing, rubbing at the bridge of her nose, before tossing him the comics.

"I tell them that I'm going out of town." Her tone was dismissive, her disinterest in continuing the conversation obvious.

"Nobody asks where you're going?" Teylor asked, pressing the point.

Caro shrugged. "Not really any of their business. My mom knows where I am in case there's an emergency."

That was news to Teylor. "Your mom knows about me?"

"Obviously." Caroline gave him a sideways glance, picking at one of her fingernails. "Why? Doesn't your mom know about me?"

Caught off guard, Teylor fumbled for an answer that was truthful, but wouldn't either piss off or terrify Caro. One that definitely wasn't _if she knew about you she would be planning a wedding and a baptism_. "Well, no. But my brother does."

Caro snorted, her amusement plain. "You mean the priest? _That's_ certainly meaningful. Are you asking forgiveness for our sins of lust?"

"Mas and I don't entirely see eye to eye on that point." Teylor rolled his eyes, rising to refill his coffee cup. "Your mom knows and hasn't told Danny?"

"Of course not," Caro scoffed, pressing the reading glasses further up on her nose. "Mom doesn't get involved in our 'childhood spats'." Teylor didn't need Caro to make the air quotes with her fingers to realize that this was a quote from the Green matriarch. "Her parenting strategy is to let us figure it out ourselves. She claims it's to teach us how to work with other people, but I think she just got sick of being in the middle."

That certainly explained a lot about the Green siblings' rather dysfunctional relationship. "Huh."

"So what do you say if someone asks you to make plans?" Caro asked, returning to the prior topic.

"I tell them my girlfriend's coming into town." Teylor poured the last of his coffee into his mug, meeting her eyes, waiting for the backpedaling. The reminder that they _weren't ready for that_. But instead of the instant withdrawal that Teylor expected, Caro simply appeared confused.

"Your girlfriend?" she asked hesitantly.

"Well, I'm not sleeping with anybody else," Teylor mumbled, pulling out the chair across the table from her. "Title of default, I guess."

Caro reached past him to steal his coffee cup, replacing it with her mostly empty one. "I'm not sleeping with anybody else either."

Teylor accepted the peace offering, draining her mug and standing to make another pot of coffee. "So that good, huh?"

Caro rolled her eyes, turning back towards her newspaper. "Don't get too cocky. I'm still perfectly capable of taking care of myself."


	13. Norfolk, Virginia - June 2014

"He's not talking to me." Caro paced back and forth across Teylor's apartment, throwing her hands in the air as she spoke. "He's getting ready to ship out for four months and he's acting as though I don't exist. He hasn't spoken to me in months!"

"Why don't you call him?" Teylor asked, despite knowing that the answer would be no. The idea of Caro backing down and admitting that she _might_ have some responsibility for the war between her and Danny was preposterous, although Teylor knew better than to say so. Caro was smart enough to know when she was wrong, but she absolutely hated being told so. Teylor had quickly learned that a soft approach, one where he allowed her to reach the obvious conclusion by herself, led to a much more pleasant results. One where he wasn't accused of "mansplaining", something that would definitely mean he wasn't getting laid tonight. And given that the Nathan James was shipping out in two days, a pissed-off Caro was definitely not the outcome Teylor was hoping for. Checking his cell, Teylor noticed the message from Benz about meeting up at Shippers, mentally considering how much physical injury Caro would inflict if he dragged her there and forced her to confront her brother. Just the thought made him cringe.

_Nope, definitely not a good idea._

"I did," Caroline mumbled. At Teylor's blank stare - Caro's prior statements on the likelihood of her contacting her brother ran the gamut from _hell no_ to _over my dead body_ \- Caro elaborated. "I texted him this morning. He didn't respond."

Having had his understanding of situation flipped upside down, Teylor struggled to find something to say. "We don't ship out until Tuesday, Green may still text you. He could be in meetings or something."

Not an outright lie, if one considered a gathering of the SEAL Team at Shippers to be a 'meeting.'

"What if it's too late?" Caro demanded, dropping to the sofa next to Teylor, and he swore that he saw the glitter of tears in her eyes. "What if he doesn't want to talk to me again. He hasn't called Rebecca either, you know."

Again, Teylor found herself a lost for words. Caro was not the type to second-guess herself, nor the type to break down in tears. "Rebecca was his girlfriend. Now his ex-girlfriend. You're his _sister_. It's totally different. He just needs some time."

"Mom said that I need to apologize," Caro said quietly.

For the third time in the space of five minutes, Teylor found himself at a loss for words. He could admit that he didn't understand the dynamic among the Green family, but from what he had picked up they seem to both be a tight-knit group, and yet spent an ornament amount of time fighting with each other. "You talked to your mother about the fight? I thought that she played Switzerland?"

The last drew a smile.

"I asked her," Caro explained. "She said that I should have stayed out of it. That it wasn't about me."

Given how much he had already pushed his luck, Teylor decided that staying silent was the best plan.

"She asked what I would have done if Danny got mad at me for dating you." Caro squirmed until her feet were on the couch and she was facing him. At Teylor's raised eyebrow, she rolled her eyes. "We both know that I would have flipped my lid. Guess I can't _completely_ blame Danny for doing the same."

Teylor couldn't believe what he was saying even as the words came out of his mouth. "The guys are at Shippers. We could swing by."

Caro stared at him as though he was deranged and, for a moment, Teylor thought he was. There was no way that a confrontation with Green was a good idea. At best, outing his relationship with Caro now would lead to a very awkward four month tour. At worst, well given that both Greens had tempers, there was a not-impossible chance that one or both of them would need bail money come morning.

Then, in an about-face that left him dizzy, Caro curled up against him, head on his shoulder. "Danny will be home in four months. Plenty of time to figure things out then."

"Mmmm." Teylor hoped that his relief wasn't obvious as he pulled her closer.

"Besides," Caro added, her voice mischievous. "This is my last chance to get laid for months. I need to take advantage."

For the fourth time that night, Teylor was caught completely off-guard. "Not planning on hooking up with someone else while I'm gone?"

"Wasn't planning on it," Caro drawled, her attention fixed on her nails. "You?"

Teylor snorted. "Bunking with nine other guys doesn't really do much for the love life."

Caro shifted until she could see his face, a slow smile spreading across her face. "Call me when you come home. I'll be waiting."

_And that sounded surprisingly like a promise._


	14. Arctic - August 2014

Teylor felt his hands shake as he stood in line, waiting for his turn in the radio room, Captain Chandler's words ringing in his ears.

_"I have news from home."_

_Captain Chandler paused, clearing his throat, before continuing._

_"It isn't good."_

_Given that the Nathan James had just been attacked by a Russian helicopter, nobody was expecting good news, but nothing could prepare the crew for what was coming next._

_"Over the past four months, a virus has spread across the globe. This virus is deadly and there is currently no cure. The President died two months ago, the Vice President immediately after. Millions of Americans are dead, millions more quarantined in safe zones. The world as we know it is no more."_

_Gasps of shock, of horror and disbelief, followed by a flurry of questions as a dozen voices broke rank. The Captain lifted his hand, and silence fell again._

_"I know that you all have questions. I know that you are wondering why we were only now learning of this plague. I have spoken with the current President, the former speaker of the house, and I have an answer to that question. The reason we are here, the reason why we were kept in the dark, is because our mission was not to test a new weapons system and Doctor Scott was not here to follow the migration of birds."_

_All eyes swung to the woman standing on the far side of the deck, her face stoic._

_"Our mission here was to find the primordial strain of the virus. The key to developing a cure."_

_Captain Chandler's eyes swung across the deck and Teylor could have sworn that he saw tears glittering in the man's eyes._

_"Our mission was, and is, one of desperation. But also one of hope. Hope that this virus can be stopped. Hope not just for America, but for the human race."_

"Petty Officer Cruz?" Lieutenant Granderson's soft voice brought Teylor back to the present. "It's your turn."

Following the woman into the small room, he handed her the piece of paper he held, one containing a dozen numbers, both of them remaining silent as the phone buzzed again and again.

_His parents_. No answer.

_His brother Mas_. No answer.

_His brother Oz_. No answer.

_His sister Maria_. At least that time he was able to leave a message, telling her that he loved her and would get there to help with the boys as soon as he could.

"I'm sorry." Lieutenant Granderson spoke softly and Teylor wondered how many of these calls she had made today. How many times she had spoken those words. Teylor passed over a piece of paper with the last number he wanted to try, neither one of them mentioning the trembling of his hands.

Lieutenant Granderson looked down, and when she glanced back up her gaze was too understanding. "Lieutenant Green tried this number earlier. We weren't able to get through."

Teylor nodded. There was a line behind him, but they would understand the need to try again. The hope that this time the number might work. And it could happen, one of the young ensigns reached his mother on the second try, everyone waiting patiently while they talked for almost ten minutes until the line dropped. "Could you, would you please try again, ma'am?"

"Of course." Lieutenant Granderson began operating the switches and, once again, Teylor listened to the ringing.

_No answer._


	15. Off the Coast of the Southeast United States - October 2014

Teylor laid on his bunk, staring at his phone. Six weeks ago one of his bunkmates would certainly have made a joke about him wacking off, but not today. These days, nobody even thought about it, such levity a thing of the past. Captain Chandler had warned them about stray cell signals - if warn was even the right word considering that they were all praying for word from home - but what the Captain failed to mention, what he probably never even considered, were the texts. Requiring minimal service to send, and little power or space to store, they began bombarding the crew's phones as soon as the Nathan James came within range of the mainland.

Teylor was not one of the lucky few who managed to get through to their families, either in the Arctic or today. But he did receive a few dozen texts from friends and family, and even managed to send a few back, although there was no way of knowing whether they would actually be received given that the electrical grid was down for more than half the country. The message were garbled, out of order, and sometimes cutoff. Still, they provided some hope, some comfort that his family might still be out there, alive, waiting for him.

Teylor scrolled through the messages from his mother again. At first she sounded composed, mentioning that Oz and Eli and the girls were at the house due to the growing threat in New Orleans and grousing about Maria's refusal to leave the city. As the messages continued, though, Teylor could sense his mother's growing panic, her demands to know where he was and when he was coming home growing more and more insistent until they abruptly stopped.

Oz's texts, by contrast, were little different that the ones that they exchanged pre-virus. If anything, Oz seemed mildly annoyed at being tasked to locate his brother, most of his messages started with _"Mama told me to tell you..."_ or _"dude, you are so in for an ass-whopping when you get home."_ One message that took over an hour to download turned out to be a picture of all of them - Oz, Eli, the girls, his parents - sitting around the fire-pit cooking hotdogs. Without a timestamp, Teylor couldn't tell if the picture was from yesterday or four months ago but he wanted to believe that was what they were doing right now.

_As though the pandemic was nothing more than an extended camping trip._

There was nothing from Mas, unsurprising as the man didn't own a cell phone, or from Maria. Teylor knew that the later was a bad sign but, as he told Miller earlier when the kid broke down and confessed that he still hadn't heard from his mother, there were a hundred reasons why a text might not have gone through, such as what service provider someone was using and whether the tower nearest to their house was down.

_Teylor hoped that the excuse didn't sound as hollow to Miller as it did in his head._

Skipping over the messages from Jones, letting Teylor know that he and a few of the other guys were in a safe zone in Georgia, Teylor moved to the last set of texts.

_Caroline_.

There were only three, the first two so typical of Caro's no-nonsense style of communication that he could hear her saying the words.

_Heard that all Navy vessels are being recalled to port. Call me once you are back. Want to know you are safe._

_First cases of the Red Flu here in CT. Guess the plot of Outbreak wasn't as absurd as I thought. Hospital called us all in, just in case. If I miss you, tell me where to call you back._

But the last one, that was the message that he couldn't stop reading. The message that was burned into his brain.

_Doubt you'll ever see this but I'm too far from the water to use a message in a bottle. (And that was a stupid movie anyway.) I'm still at the hospital. Power's been out for almost a month. We are running on a generator but almost out of fuel so doubt my cell will last much longer. I regret so many things right now, Tey. I play through the last year in my head and want to scream at myself for being so stupid, for thinking that I had all the time in the world. But something I don't regret is spending time with you. More than anything, I wish I could keep the promise I made to be there when you got home. You are a good man, Javier Teylor Cruz._

Dropping his phone to the bunk, Teylor rolled to his side, wondering, once again, whether his presence on the Nathan James was a gift or a curse.


	16. Deridder, Louisiana - December 2014

Teylor stood staring at the house where he lived for the first nineteen years of his life. A small bungalow on a sunny street, one that used to be filled with laughing children and barking dogs, and now sat silent except for the caw of the occasional bird.

The significance of the large, red X spray-painted across the side of his parents' home was not lost on Teylor, or any of his teammates. After all, this was not their first rodeo, as Wolf liked to say, cackling with amusement over the American expression. The plan, as it always was in these circumstances, was for the team to clear the house and open a few windows before Teylor would be allowed inside.

Left unsaid was the fact that nobody wanted Teylor to see his family dead, their corpses mangled both by the virus and the passage of time.

"Wolf, Burk and I will take inside. Tex and Miller, stay here with Cruz." Whistling for Halsey, Danny headed towards the front door. Rick moved forward to stand next to Teylor, providing support in the only way that he could. A full ten minutes passed before the door opened again and Danny exited, his face grim. There was no need for Danny's next words. "I'm sorry, Teylor."

"Who…who was there?" Teylor could barely push the words past the lump in his throat.

"Your parents and Eli and Oz and…," Danny hesitated, "the girls."

Teylor leaned heavily against the jeep, closing his eyes, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, fighting for control. Teylor thought he had been prepared for the news - the large X wasn't exactly ambiguous - but the words still shook him to the core. God, the girls were so little – five, four and three. Stairstep children, he had jokingly called them, because the girls were only a year apart, before telling Oz that he needed to get snipped. All he could see was the picture Oz sent. The one of them sitting outside. Smiling. Eating. _Alive_. How long after that picture was sent had they died? Days? Weeks? _Months?_

"There's a letter for you in the kitchen," Carlton added. "We didn't touch it. I can get it, if you want."

"No, I'll go."

Teylor knew that they were all watching him. Not to judge him – he knew these men better than that. But because they were worried. Worried that the news would break him the way that it broke so many others. And their worry was not entirely misplaced. Part of Teylor did want to walk into that house and never walk out again. Part of him didn't want to keep living, keep fighting, keep working for a future towards a future that seemed to contain only pain and misery. But he couldn't give up. Not yet.

_Mas. Maria. The boys. Caroline._

They deserved better than him lying down on his bed and swallowing his own gun.

At the kitchen table sat three envelopes. One was addressed to Teylor, the other two for Maria and Mas. Teylor lifted the letter off the table, his finger running over his name, written in his mother's perfect script across the front of the envelope. His finger slid under the flap, unsealing the letter and pulling out the single sheet of paper inside. As he did, a familiar gold band clattered to the table. _His mother's wedding ring_. Teylor lifted the band, squeezing it tightly in his palm before sliding it onto the chain that held his dog tags. His eyes skimmed across the words on the paper. His mother expressed her love, her hope that he was safe, and her desire that he keep the ring for his future wife. Ignoring the tears burning in his eyes, Teylor re-folded the letter and placed it carefully in his vest pocket along with the unopened letters for Mas and Maria before walking out of his childhood home.

"What are you thinking, Tey?" Danny put a hand on Teylor's shoulder, his warm palm burning through Teylor's uniform to the numb flesh below.

"I need to bury them."

"Where?" Danny didn't hesitate.

"At the church. Mama would want to be in consecrated ground."

Teylor turned, but before he could take a step Carlton blocked him. "You should stay here. We can find it, get everything ready."

Teylor met Carlton's gaze directly. "No, I can't stay here. I need to do something."

Danny was the one to make the call. "Lead on."

Danny, Carlton, and Tex fell in step with him, Wolf and Rick remaining behind. They would follow with the bodies once the graves were dug. The men walked in silence towards the church, the bustling town center where Teylor spent hours as a child nothing more than a ghost town. They had reached the edge of the cemetery when Halsey's growl alerted them to a foreign presence.

"Padre?" Teylor unconsciously switched to Spanish at the sight of the parish priest he had known since childhood.

The elderly man's eyes widened in recognition. "Javier Cruz? Young Teylor? You must leave now! The sickness is here."

"We know, Father, we have the cure." Teylor waved his hand at Danny, who held up the CDC case he was carrying in hopes of locating survivors.

"The cure?" The man's voice trembled, as though he didn't trust his own ears.

"I promise on the Virgin Mary." Crossing himself, Teylor reassured the man. "We have the cure for the sickness, Father."

The priest collapsed in the middle of the road and, as Teylor and Carlton rushed to his side, Teylor noticed the tears streaming down his face. "God is merciful!"

"Father, please drink some water," Carlton pulled out a bottle of water out of his pack and opened it for the priest.

Teylor waited until the man had drained half the bottle. "Why are you out here alone, Padre?"

Tears filled the elderly man's eyes. "God has protected me from the illness. When all those around me died, I survived."

_Immune._ Even without the look that Danny shot him, Teylor knew to tread carefully. "Are there other survivors?"

"Yes, a few." The man viewed Teylor sorrowfully. "I have not seen your parents in some time."

"We found my parents and Oz at the house," Teylor replied quietly. There was no need to elaborate. "But there was no sign of Mas or Maria."

"I'm sorry, my son. Father Matias was called home." The priest crossed himself as he spoke and Teylor felt his last of his hope evaporating. "But Maria, she and the boys, they are here."

Teylor's head jerked up, hardly able to believe what he had heard. "They're alive?"

"Si. Your mama, she asked Father Matias to find your sister once the sickness began spreading. He brought them here. When the sickness became bad, the convent doors were sealed. We refused to open them for the false prophets, the evil men claiming to be the chosen."

"The Immunes," Danny noted darkly.

Father Samuel nodded. "Yes, they called themselves such. Claiming that the sickness was a plague from Our Heavenly Father. A curse on our children. Such blasphemy."

Despite the situation, Teylor found his lips twitching as he imaged Father Samuel lecturing some unsuspecting Immune. Turning, the priest began moving through the large cemetery at break-neck speed, leading them towards a small building that, prior to the virus, housed a half-dozen elderly nuns. Pulling a small bell out of his pocket, the man began ringing it, apparently a signal to those in the building.

"Praise to Our Heavenly Father and Mother Mary, we are saved! Maria Cruz! Manny! Christopher! You must come! Young Teylor is here! And he has a cure!"


	17. New Orleans, Louisiana - December 2014

Maria set two glasses of water on the coffee table before dropping to the couch next to Teylor. "I'm ready to go."

Although the Nathan James would be in Louisiana for no more than forty-eight hours, the stated goal to flush out any remaining Immunes while allowing Teylor time to search for his family, Teylor had easily arranging transportation for Maria and the boys back to St. Louis in exchange for a few dozen doses of the contagious cure. Truthfully he anticipated that the hardest person to convince would be Maria herself, but she proved to be surprisingly acquiescent when Teylor proposed the idea. Of course, after spending six months inside a convent sealed off from both human and viral invaders, only to learn that the cure arrived too late for most of her family, Teylor could understand Maria's desire to be far away from this place.

_He certainly never planned to return to his childhood home again._

Glancing up from his phone, Teylor was surprised to see only two suitcases by the apartment door. "There's no limit on bags. I checked."

"It's mostly pictures and a few toys. The boys need new clothes anyway," Maria replied with a shrug. She leaned over his shoulder. "Is that Caroline?"

Teylor jerked. "How did you..."

"Mas told me about her," Maria replied, draining half her glass of water. "Said you were head over heels."

Teylor stared at her blankly. "That asshole. I told him that in confidence!"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're calling a dead man an asshole."

Okay, Maria might have a point. _Still._ "He was a priest! Aren't they supposed to go to jail before they'll reveal a secret?"

"That's only if you told him the information during confession," Maria replied tartly. At Teylor's skeptical look, she added, "I spent six _long_ months in a convent. You learn a thing or two."

Teylor scowled. "Damn loopholes."

"Now stop skirting the question." Maria snatched his phone, expanding the photo of Teylor and Caro. "She's pretty. Where were you?"

Teylor leaned back, considering Maria's ceiling. "Marine Ball. Last November. Caro didn't want to go, originally. I had to promise her that there wouldn't be pictures."

Maria snorted. "Clearly that worked out. How did you manage it?"

Teylor chuckled at the memory. "Jones snapped a shot at a terrible angle. Guess she figured that a bad picture was worse than no picture."

"Do you know..." Maria didn't finish the question. She didn't need to.

"No." Retrieving his phone, Teylor turned it off, sliding it into his pocket and quickly draining his glass of water.

Maria waited several minutes before speaking again. "Where does she live?"

"Connecticut." Teylor considered leaving it at that. But Maria was the only sibling he had left, she and the boys his only surviving family. However irritating he found his sister before he left for the Arctic, they needed to find a way to make their relationship work. Maria needed him. More importantly, the boys needed him. _And maybe he needed them too_. "The Nathan James should get there in about a month. We'll hook around the Eastern United States before heading to South America."

Teylor stood, moving towards the door and the suitcases. He would load them into the Jeep and then find Wolf and Rick, who were currently playing soccer with Manny and Christopher to keep them from being too underfoot. Or, worse, asking about the smell coming from the apartment next door.

"And you're sure that it's okay for the boys and I to stay at your place?" Maria asked for at least the fifth time.

Teylor nodded. "President Michener assigned us all housing but chances are that I won't be using it anytime soon given the Nathan James' deployment schedule. Besides, I can always bunk with Miller."

"Thanks Tey." Maria hesitated before speaking again, both of them still feeling out this new relationship, one where they weren't at each other's throats. "Staying here would be ... hard. St. Louis will be a fresh start."

Seeing the tears gathering in his sister's eyes, Teylor reached over to grasp Maria's hand. "For all of us."

He wasn't sure how long they stood there before Manny burst into the apartment. "Mama! We almost forgot my Pokémon cards!"

Quickly wiping away tears, Maria gestured towards the boy's bedroom. "Well go get them! We can't keep your Uncle waiting all day!"

"Yes, Mama."

Manny disappeared, Maria following behind him. At the doorway she stopped, turning back to Teylor. "I hope you find her. Caroline. After everything that you went through, Teylor, you deserve that."

Lugging the two suitcases down the stairs of the apartment, Teylor considered Maria's words. His parents were gone, his brothers dead. The chances of Caro being alive were so slim as to be almost impossible. But Maria was here. Christopher and Manny were alive.

_That would have to be enough._


	18. Road to Cornwall, Connecticut - February 2015

They were still ten minutes south of their objective, the small town in Connecticut where Danny and Caroline Green grew up, when shots rang out. Teylor spun the SUV sideways, blocking the road and giving them some cover, as he, Danny, Tex, and their passengers piled out of the vehicle.

"Turn around and go back the way you came!" The order was punctuated by a few additional shots that landed nowhere near the SUV. Either the person shooting had terrible aim or, more likely, their intention was not to actually hit anything. This wasn't the first time the team ran into resistance in their efforts to spread the cure and any other day Teylor would have been perfectly happy to wait it out.

_But not today. Not when they were so damn close to Caro._

Danny swore under his breath before moving to crouch near the tire, popping his head out to talk to whoever was out there. "This is Lieutenant Daniel Green with the U.S. Navy. We are headed north to Cornwall. We have the cure to the Red Flu. Happy to share it with all of you."

"We've heard that before," a man's voice replied. "We aren't interested in your help or your cure."

Teylor clenched his jaw. As if the Immunes and their habit of claiming to have a "cure", only to instead infect everyone around them, weren't enough to content with, from the moment they reached Baltimore, the Nathan James had dealt with one local militia after another, most established in the height of the chaos following the collapse of the pre-virus government. Well-intentioned or otherwise, the groups were typically disorganized and lacking true leadership, often leaving the very people that they claimed to protect distrustful of anyone who claimed to be part of the government.

In his ear, Teylor could hear Carlton advising command of the situation. Minutes later he and Wolf appeared, running up from the second vehicle, which had remained half a mile back per protocol. With Danny occupied by the idiot thinking that he could drive them off with a rifle, Carlton took charge. "Taylor and Cruz, see if you can figure out where those shots are coming from and circle around behind them."

"Yes, sir."

But before Teylor could move, Danny's voice caught his attention. "You ready to talk to me yet, Caro?"

"I'm thinking about it."

Teylor froze, his mind blank. _That voice_. A voice he would have known anywhere. One that he knew as well as his own.

_Caro was alive._

_Despite the odds, she managed to survive._

When, in a rare moment of optimism, Teylor envisioned this moment, he imagined himself overjoyed. The knowledge that Caro had survived akin to winning a dozen lotteries. But instead, he felt numb. Frozen. Convinced that it was all a trick.

"Still pissed at me, I take it?" Danny was saying, his typical half-flippant manner of dealing with his sister enough to drag Teylor back to the present. Teylor fought the urge to snap at Green to shut up, to leave the past in the past and focus on the present, on the miracle that they were experiencing.

"If you want to talk, Danny, you can come on over," Caro replied, sounding tired. "But no guns. And tell anyone else with you to head back down the road."

"Absolutely not," Carlton responded, instantly rejecting the suggestion. "We have no idea what is going on and this whole situation feels weird."

Tex leaned forward. "I'm with Burk. This isn't just scared civilians. There's something wrong here. You sure that's your sister?"

"Oh, that's Caroline all right," Teylor jumped in. Not knowing Caro, Carlton couldn't possibly understand the dynamic between the Green siblings. "She's clearly got a bee in her bonnet about something. No convincing her of it, though. She's the most stubborn woman on the planet."

"Let me talk to her," Danny argued. "She won't shoot me."

"It's not your sister that I'm worried about," Carlton replied, reminding all of them that they were facing an unknown number of hostiles.

"Caro won't let them shoot me," Danny argued. "Right, Teylor?"

Thrown into the middle of the dispute, Teylor hesitated. Carlton was playing this by the book...but there was no book when it came to the apocalypse. It was the hint of desperation in Danny's eyes, a look that reminding Teylor of how he felt in Louisiana, that swayed him. Caro might be Teylor's ... something, but she was also Danny's sister. _His family_. "I say he goes, but takes the gun."

Carlton obviously wasn't happy, but finally nodded. "Fine. But don't step out until Wolf and Cruz are in position."

"No can do, Caro," Danny called over the SUV. Then he added, "Cruz here says that you are the most stubborn woman on the planet."

_"Teylor?"_

Following Wolf into the thick brush, moving as quietly as possible through the soft snow, Teylor could have sworn that he heard her whisper his name. He opened his mouth to respond, momentarily forgetting the need for silence, but before he could give himself away, Caro's voice sounded again. And there was nothing soft about her voice now.

"You think that's going to work on me?" Caro's voice was scornful. "Do you really expect me to believe that you and Teylor _both_ survived? And that you have a cure for the Red Flu? Forget it buster. I've been down that road before. The military and all of their _help._ "

"You see anything, Wolf?" Carlton's voice sounded in their mics.

"Looks like civilians," Wolf responded. "Four of them. Older man, two guys in their early twenties, and the woman – Green's sister, I take it. She has a pistol but the rest of them have hunting rifles."

Moving to the tree next to Wolf, Teylor raised his scope, barely able to hear over the pounding of his chest. He ignored the men he was supposed to be watching and focused on the petite brunette, hair tied in a messy bun on top of her head, wearing only a pair of jeans and a green jacket despite the frigid temperature.

_A very familiar green jacket._

Seeing her standing there - _shockingly alive -_ watching her stare at the SUV where Danny remained hidden, it all felt surreal. She looked skinnier than he remembered, dirtier, the pistol strapped to her thigh jarringly out-of-place. Teylor hadn't even know that Caro could shoot.

"Burk, go south, check on Miller and make sure we aren't getting blocked in. I don't want to get surprised," Danny ordered. "Wolf and Cruz, keep an eye on them. I'm heading out."

"She's moving closer to your location," Wolf whispered as Caro took a limping step forward, her right foot dragging, obviously injured. "The others are going with her. We'll circle behind."

A quick scan revealing nobody else hiding in the woods. Wolf and Teylor fell in behind the group, slowly advancing as they moved onto the road. Wolf stepped out first, causing Caro to jump and spin in their direction. Teylor could hear Danny talking - lecturing really, the way he would a junior officer - but the words flowed past without meaning as he stepped out of the shadows of the trees.

Walking up to Caro, giving her no opportunity to speak, he wrapped a hand around the back of her neck, tipping her face upwards and using his other arm to pull her against him as he captured her lips.


	19. Road to Cornwall, Connecticut - February 2015

"Did you just kiss my sister?" Danny was actually sputtering and Teylor didn't need to look at the man to know that he was getting a death glare.

Teylor shrugged, his eyes fixed on Caro. Green could think whatever he wanted. The only person here who mattered was standing right in front of Teylor, eyes wide as though she didn't entirely believe what she was seeing. He raised his hand to Caro's face, brushing a stray hair away. "I missed you."

"Took you long enough to get here," Caro muttered, but Teylor noticed that she hadn't moved away, one arm still tucked firmly around his waist, the flush on her cheeks no longer from the weather.

Unfortunately, their audience wasn't willing to give them a moment's peace.

"You detest Cruz!" Danny snapped, his very existence annoying Teylor. "You refer to him as a lump of wasted brain matter."

Beside them, Tex started hooting. "If you could see the look on your face right now, Green!"

"Honestly, Danny, it's none of your business," Caro retorted, rolling her eyes. With a final look at Teylor, one that he couldn't read, Caro pulled away. "We have other things to deal with right now."

Teylor fought the urge to pick Caro up and throw her into the SUV, hightailing it back south, suspecting that the reaction would be quick and unpleasant. Caro was out here for a reason. Until they knew what that was, she wouldn't be going anywhere.

With a final glare at Teylor, Danny turned back to his sister, pulling a familiar syringe out of his jacket pocket. "Give me your arm."

"What is it?" Caro stepped back against Teylor, and his arms wrapped around her almost automatically. She was watching Danny warily, and Teylor could sense her heart racing, her breath quickening. _Was she actually afraid of her brother?_

"The cure." Teylor answered soothingly, moving to lace his fingers through hers.

Caro glanced over her shoulder for confirmation, her shock evident, before her gaze returned to Danny. "There's a cure? We heard a rumor but..."

"But you thought it was a trick," Danny said, his frustration evident. Teylor understood. This was far from the first time that they ran into a group of people convinced that they were peddling snake-oil. "It's not. Hell, if I didn't want to waste the dose I would take it myself."

Caro seemed to be considering that, then she straightened, taking a step away, although Teylor noticed that she didn't drop his hand. "You should save them for the children."

"We've got plenty," Danny responded. "And they won't need shots anyway. Once you get the vaccine, you're contagious with the cure in about an hour. All you have to do is breathe on them."

Surprise and suspicious reappeared on Caroline's face. "What? How is that possible? Are you sure..."

"Doctor Scott developed it herself," Teylor explained quietly.

Caro's eyes widened. "Rachel Scott? They mentioned her at the hospital, said she was our best hope. But her ideas sounded crazy and..."

"I'll explain later." Apparently tired of argument, Danny grabbed his sister's arm, sticking Caro with the needle. At the sight, Teylor felt a surge of satisfaction. _She was safe._

Caro, on the other hand, was not impressed, yanking her arm away and rubbing at the injection site vigorously. "What the hell, Danny! That's assault!"

Teylor was mildly amused to Caro's outburst, knowing that if Caro _really_ wanted to escape that she was well versed in self-defense - or at least knew how to knee a guy in a particularly sensitive area.

"So where are these friends of yours?" Danny asked, maneuvering Caro around to Miller's SUV. When Teylor made to follow, Danny stopped him with a sharp look. "You ride with Burk."

Teylor was halfway across the road before Danny spoke again. "And don't think that this conversation is over. Because believe me, it's not."

_Fuck_.


	20. Hartford, Connecticut - February 2015

Teyler leaned against the wall of the hospital that was their home for the night, the remainder of the team two floors above, preparing for the distribution that would be made in the morning. His current spot guarding the front entrance would be almost peaceful if it wasn't for the foul order emanating from the cafeteria. But at least the position allowed him to remain out of earshot from Danny. His team leader had taken one look at their passenger before assigning Cruz both corpse disposal _and_ overnight watch.

After reaming both Teylor and Rick out for letting Caroline come along.

Not that Teylor was surprised by Green's anger. He had broken an unspoken understanding by dating Danny's sister, and Danny was rightfully pissed about it. Still, that wasn't what Teylor found himself brooding about as he stood there in the dark. He knew Danny well enough to guess that, at the end of the day, the guy would come around. Caro, on the other hand, was much less predictable. And her refusal to speak to him for the entire trip from Norwalk to Hartford was not a good sign.

Obviously something was wrong, but whether her reticence was due to Miller's presence or because she was too angry to speak or some other reason completely, Teylor had no idea. What he _did_ know was that a quiet Caro was not a good thing. Of all the moods that he had seen her in over the past few years, _passive_ was not on the list.

And yet...did he even know Caroline Green anymore? He would never have predicted her actions back in Cornwall, the events of the past few months clearly changing her in ways that he could only guess.

_Had he found Caroline alive, only to learn that the woman he loved was gone? Just another casualty of the pandemic that destroyed everything in its path?_

Still, Teylor had seen a spark of the old Caro when she flat-out refused Commander Garnett's direction that she travel to New London with the rest of the Cornwall survivors. Her request that Teylor and Rick bring her north to meet up with the team, and her brother, was less a question than a demand, followed as it was by the casual observation that she was going with or without them. In that moment, Teylor recognized the woman before him. Her spunk, her boldness, her absolute certainty that she was doing the right thing, all so familiar. As usual, Caro was a conundrum, tying him up in knots without lifting a finger.

A creak on the stairs alerted him to someone's approach.

"I was with someone else."

As an opening line, it certainly caught his attention, Teylor's world shifting as he took in the five simple words. He glanced to his left, watching as Caroline slowly approached, her green jacket wrapped around her shoulders, her arms folded across her chest.

Of all the possibilities he had considered, Caro moving on with another man wasn't one of them. Although, that certainly explained her reticence earlier. Given his earlier indiscretion, he should probably be thankful that she was letting him down privately, rather than dumping him in front of his entire team. Ignoring the desire to punch a wall, Teylor reminded himself that he had gotten what he wanted.

_She was alive_.

That would be enough.

_It would have to be_.

"Should I be expecting a wedding invitation?"

For a moment Caro appeared puzzled. Then a look of pure disgust crossed her face. "God no. If I ever see him again I plan to put a bullet between his eyes."

For most women that would have been a meaningless threat. But with Caro, Teylor gave it fifty-fifty. He raised an eyebrow. "Trouble in paradise?"

Caroline's voice was flat. "He was one of them. The Massachusetts alliance."

The Massachusetts Alliance. Local warlords, not the first they encountered on this trip, and probably not the last. Then something that Danny said earlier came to mind. Teylor narrowed his eyes. "Do I know him?"

"Maybe," Caro replied, staring into the darkness rather than looking at him. "Danny's friend Tom. He came to visit a few times."

_Tom_. One of Green's oldest friends. A man that Danny, and therefore Caroline, had known from infancy. A natural person for her to turn to in a crisis, but one who betrayed both his friends. No wonder Caroline seemed so different, _so broken_. She had been deceived in the most horrible manner by someone she trusted implicitly.

Teylor felt a sting of jealousy. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Caro shrugged, turning towards the entrance, head tilted upwards as though she was watching the stars. "So, did you?"

"Did I what?"

Idly Teylor wondered if Danny knew were Caroline was. Most likely. The guy might be pissed at his sister, but he also wasn't going to let her wander off by herself in the middle of the night. Which meant they could be interrupted at any time.

"Sleep with somebody else."

Teylor snorted. "Not exactly a lot of available women running around the Arctic."

"My brother managed to find a wife," Caro pointed out, drawing a laugh from Teylor. "And I am certain that there were plenty of grateful women in St. Louis."

"There were," Teylor teased, drawing out the moment. "But to answer your question, no, I didn't."

"Why?"

Only Caro. Only Caro would ask. Any other woman would be overjoyed to find out that her boyfriend - or ex-boyfriend, whatever he was now - stayed faithful despite the circumstances. After all, what was the point in denying yourself when there was an eighty percent chance that the woman in question was dead? St. Louis might not have been Vegas, but the same rules applied. _What happened in St. Louis stayed in St. Louis._

Teylor considered lying, but what was the point? He laid out all his cards when he kissed her on that road. There was no backtracking now. "Because none of them were you."

Silence fell, and Teylor waited, for a moment feeling like he was back in Norfolk, Caro's mantra playing through his head. _We don't have that kind of relationship._ Then Caro hiccupped, the sound followed by a gasp, and Teylor realized that she was crying. He stepped towards her, laying a hand on her sleeve. "Hey. You okay?"

Turning, Caro stared at him, her tear-streaked face barely visible in the moonlight. And for a moment Teylor expected her to inform him, in her pointed way, what an absolutely idiotic question that was. _Of course she wasn't okay_. Then, without warning, Caro threw herself at Teylor, burying her head in his chest, her tears turning to sobs as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.

Five minutes passed, then ten, and Teylor saw Burk peaking around the corner of the staircase, no doubt sent by Green to locate his sister. Teylor shook his head slightly, careful not to dislodge Caroline, and Carlton backed away as quietly as he came. That should earn them a few more minutes, assuming Danny didn't decide that Teylor was responsible for Caro's mood and come barging in.

Thankfully, nobody else appeared and the storm passed as quickly as it started. Caro eased away, although she kept her hands on Teylor's chest. She smiled up at him crookedly, her eyes red and swollen. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."


	21. New London, Connecticut - February 2015

Teylor stepped into the hotel lobby, his gaze instantly drawn to the petite brunette across the room despite the crowd between them. Caro was speaking with a group of people who Teylor recognized from Cornwall, still wearing the same button down flannel shirt over well-worn jeans that she was wearing yesterday. Since their arrival at Norfolk, Teylor had learned firsthand how fortunate he was to have regular access to running water and sewer, a washer and dryer, and a safe spot to store his belonging. The crew bunks might be cramped and lack any sort of privacy, but the accommodations were practically palatial compared to the barn where Caro had been living for the past few months.

The people currently milling around the room were all refugees, fleeing their homes in the hope that New London would offer a better life. A place safe from both the virus, and from the warlords who had taken advantage of the power vacuum to stake a claim. They were on their way to achieving the first, the contagious cure spreading throughout the state even as they spoke, but the second was far harder. The arrival of the Nathan James gave people hope that a return to stability was coming. But for every threat that the Nathan James neutralized, another seemed to appear. Tomorrow's planned mission was nothing more than a surgical strike against the Massachusetts Alliance, a reminder to everyone that the United States government continued to exist. Still, once the immediate threat was over, the Nathan James would move on, leaving the residents of New London - _leaving Caro_ \- to deal with whatever came next on their own.

Knowing the dangers that Caro still faced was almost as bad as the uncertainty of not knowing whether she was alive. And yet, asking her to leave New London felt wrong. These people were Caro's friends, her neighbors, people she had known since infancy. During the worst of the virus they stayed together, fighting for survival. Teylor watched as she interacted with the group from Cornwall, listening as she answered questions and gave directions, wondering whether Caro had truly changed, or whether this was simply a side of her that he had never seen.

From the moment they met, Caro had been a part of Teylor's life. Whether or not the guys knew the extent of the relationship, they all knew Caro. She knew them. She knew Lejeune. She knew Norfolk and Jones and the Nathan James. But the opposite wasn't true. Caro had always kept her life back in Connecticut private, sharing little with Teylor, leading him to believe that she had few attachments. And now he was seeing a glimpse of that life, and realizing just how wrong his assumptions had been. This was Caro's home. Leaving these people would be like walking away from Green and Burk and Miller.

_How could he ask Caro to do something that he was unwilling to do himself?_

Which, of course, led Teylor right back to the reason he was here. The only way he could think of to help.

"Ready to run that errand?" Tex clapped a hand on Teylor's shoulder, zooming in on the source of Teyor's distraction. Tex cast an amused glance in Caro's direction. "Actually, I have an idea."

Before Teylor could stop him, Tex was weaving easily through the crowd. Figuring out what he was doing a moment too late, Teylor took off in pursuit. But, unlike Tex, he struggled to move through the space, seemingly waylaid at every turn. Which meant that, by the time he arrived, Tex and Caro were already deep in conversation.

"Nolan!" he snapped, drawing the attention of several people in the vicinity. "The exit is the _other_ way."

Caro frowned, opening her mouth, but Tex beat her to the punch. "Lucky for us we got a whole group of volunteers here willing to help. More hands are always better, eh, Cruz?"

Teylor's intended protest died before it was born. Tex might be a pain in the ass, but that didn't mean he was wrong. The more supplies that they could haul per trip, the higher the chances were that any of them would get to sleep tonight. After all, Captain Chandler might have approved this supply run, but he was also clear that it was to be done on their own time. "Any of you armed?"

Several nods, including Caro. Teylor narrowed his eyes. "Remember that we are in friendly territory. Check _twice_ before pulling out a weapon and three times before you actually shoot anything."

"I don't want to get shot in the ass again because someone freaks out over a rat," Tex added, drawing a few chuckles.

Exiting the building proved just as difficult as crossing the lobby had been, as they were pushing against a flood of people trying to enter. Being one of the few buildings in the are with power meant that the hotel was a natural draw. Commander Garnett had gotten the hotel - and the hospital across the street - running on generators, but that was only a temporary fix. Hence the double purpose for their upcoming trip north. Recover the closest power plant and land a blow to the heart of the Massachusetts Alliance.

Focusing on the present, upon reaching the street, Teylor arranged the eight civilians into pairs, giving each a couple of trash bags and a flashlight. Three blocks over they reached their destination, a Costco store that remained relatively well-stocked. The perishables were long gone, of course, and the food had been picked over. But it was a treasure trove of clothing and personal hygiene items.

"Take whatever you want for yourselves, and then grab an assortment of stuff to bring back to the hotel," Teylor directed. "Just no alcohol."

Tex chuckled as he set down the bottle of scotch that he was holding. "Damn. And that was Macellans."

Three trips later, the Costco was beginning to look stripped and the hotel lobby was beginning to take on the appearance of a PX. Teylor checked his watch, twenty-three hundred. He could get almost six hours sleep if he went upstairs now.

"Tey!" Sliding a backpack over her shoulder, Caro jogged across the lobby to where he stood at the base of the stairway, her hand settling on his arm. "That was a really nice thing to do for us."

"I'm shipping out tomorrow." The words spilled out, Teylor unsure of how to tell her that he was leaving.

Caro drew in a sharp breath. "I thought the James was here for another week."

"She is," Teylor replied, his eyes glued on her face. Was that disappointment he saw in her eyes? "My team has ... a different operation."

"I see," Caro murmured. "When will you be back?"

"I don't know yet."

"I see." The words were no more than a sigh. Caro turned her head, staring out into the lobby, her thumb stroking across his sleeve.

"My commission's up in about nine months," Teylor said slowly, not wanting to push, knowing that the virus - that _Tom_ \- had changed things between them. That they were not the same people who said goodbye ten months ago. That they might not want the same thing anymore - might never want the same thing again. But he couldn't just leave. Couldn't go with things so unsettled. "I could come back. Maria's always said she wanted to live somewhere cold. Connecticut fits the bill."

"Mmmm." Caro paused. "Danny asked me to go back with you. Said nurses are in pretty short supply."

Teylor felt his heart jump. That's all he really wanted, wasn't it? For her to be safe? To be able to fall asleep each night without wondering where she was and whether she was still alive, even if it wasn't with him? He fought to keep his tone neutral. "They are."

Lips firming, as thought she had made up her mind about something, Caro turned back towards him. "I heard that Chandler assigned the crew rooms."

"He did," Teylor confirmed.

"Are you really going to make me sleep in the lobby when you have an entire room all to yourself?" Caro asked, the corner of her mouth curling up.

Despite knowing that Commander Garnett had, in fact, assigned space to everyone in the Cornwall group, Teylor grinned. "I suppose the gentlemanly thing to do would be to give you my room and sleep down here."

"I don't think we need to go _that_ far." Tugging on his sleeve, Caro maneuvered through the doorway into the stairwell. They were halfway up the first flight when she spoke again. "What would you say if I asked you to stay?"

"When have I ever told you no?" Teylor intended the retort to be light, teasing, but the words came out far too somber. The past hung between them, the memory of all the times that Teylor asked, and Caro said no.

Caro stopped, turning towards him. "Then I'm asking you to stay, Teylor. Please."


	22. New London, Connecticut - February 2015

Teylor's feet were like lead as he trudged down the stairs from the hospital rooftop, Miller on his heels. The mission hadn't gone to plan. Not that they ever did, these days. The virus had not only wiped out ninety percent of the world's population, but it had also changed all of the rules, and things that were unthinkable two short years ago were now commonplace. Still, nights like tonight, when the team was forced to pull guns on American citizens, were the hardest.

As they moved down the final flight, Teylor noticed Tex standing at the doorway, arms crossed. Letting Miller pass, Teylor stopped. "Did Rob make it?"

"DOA." Tex's voice was firm, composed, not a shred of emotion.

Teylor nodded, having expected the answer, the question a mere pro forma. The man did eat his own gun, after all. The only surprising thing that Tex could have said was that Rob managed to pull through. Still, the knowledge that a brother-in-arms was dead, even one Teylor served with for only a few short days, felt like a kick in the chest. He gave Tex a crooked grin. "Got any of that moonshine left?"

"Nah." Tex shook his head, before indicating the cafeteria with his thumb. "But your wife over there might be able to hook you up."

"Wife?" Teylor's eyes darted towards the door. "You need to get your eyes checked, old man, mixing me up with Green."

"Nope." Tex replied, popping the p. "Any woman who sits in those hard-ass chairs for hours waiting for you to get off that helo qualifies as a wife, piece of paper or not. Now go get her tiger."

Teylor moved towards the cafeteria slowly, mind racing. Despite all that had happened since the Nathan James arrived in Connecticut, this moment felt defining. He wasn't the man Caroline knew right now. The even-tempered one. The reasonable one. The one who smiled as she bitched about her brother and then plied her with pizza and beer and bad jokes. No, tonight he was a soldier. One who had killed, one who watched a brother die, the blood still lingering on his uniform. This was a side that Caro had never seen. A side that he never planned to let her see. The ugly one. The one that involved blood and guts and death.

_A side that was all to similar to Tom, to the man who hurt her so badly._

Yet Teylor felt drawn to her presence like a moth to the flame. From the moment they met, Caro's passion, her enthusiasm for life, had made Teylor feel alive in a way that he had never felt before or since. She loved and she hated, she burned with indignation, and her fury had no equal. But even when she was furious with him, having Caro there made the world a little brighter.

Teylor stepped through the swinging doors, gaze sweeping the cafeteria until they came to a familiar head of frizzy hair. Caro stood, and even before he closed the gap Teylor could see the tears shimmering in her eyes. He stopped just short of her, words deserting him. And then, as though she understood, Caro wrapped her arms around him.

"You'll ruin your clothes," Teylor murmured, voice low and hoarse. Yet he couldn't stop his arms from closing, tugging her against him even more tightly.

Caro shrugged. "Just a little bit of blood. I'm a nurse, remember?"

"Really? I had no idea."

His attempt at a joke fell flat, and Caro buried her head in his shoulder. The two of them stood there silently, Teylor soaking in her warmth, her scent, her very presence. Minutes passed, the sounds of the cafeteria fading into the background. When Caro pulled away, Teylor released her reluctantly. Her voice was soft as she asked, "You hungry?"

Teylor considered the spread of sandwiches, salads and chips on the side of the room. Just the idea of food made his stomach turn. "No. You?"

Caro shook her head. "I already ate. But I wouldn't say no to some more coffee. Bacon actually found a french press. For a minute I thought I really had died and gone to heaven."

He snorted. "You and your coffee. How many cups have you had?"

Tipping her head to the side, Caro seemed to be counting. "Five. Oh, no, six. One more won't hurt."

Teylor let her tug him towards the coffee, letting the chatter roll over him, barely listening, until the word _Norfolk_ caught his attention. "Wait, what?"

Hands moving to her hips in a move that Teylor was all too familiar with, Caro pinned him with her eyes. "I said that at least Norfolk will be warmer. Isn't that where Maria is?"

"No," Teylor felt like he had missed half the conversation and was scrambling to catch up. "She and the boys are staying in St. Louis for now..." Teylor stopped abruptly, realizing that he was completely off topic. "Wait. Back up. You're going with us?"

"With you, no," Caro sniffed, pouring two cups of coffee and searching for lids. "Doctor Milowsky offered me a spot on Solace. He's taking some of the sicker patients to the hospital in Norfolk for treatment. I said I would help him get to Norfolk, and then make a decision on joining him permanently."

As the words permeated his brain, Teylor found himself grinning, as though today were Christmas morning rather than a crappy day in the middle of February.

_Norfolk. Caro was going to Norfolk._

He took the cup she was holding out. "You know where you're staying yet?"

"Not yet." Caro blew on her brew. "Why? You looking for a roommate?"

The comment was so uniquely Caroline. The timing so absurdly ridiculous, that Teylor couldn't help but laugh. Turning, he raised his voice. "Hey Miller!"

The young man responded hesitantly, eyes wary as he looked at Caro. "Yeah?"

"You don't mind if Caro stays with us in Norfolk, do you?"

Eyes widened, Miller gulped. "Actually, I think I'm good bunking on the James."


	23. Norfolk, Virginia - April 2015

Caro flopped down on the bed next to Teylor. "I work with idiots."

Despite having his own apartment, Teylor found himself spending little time there since his arrival back in Norfolk two months ago, instead effectively living in Caro's room at the Greens' new home. Without Jones around - and knowing how unlikely it was that his friend survived - the apartment no longer felt like home. Adding in the lack of electricity and indoor plumbing, as well as the smell that wafted in from the other apartments, there was little to recommend the place. The Green house, on the other hand, with its constant stream of people flowing in and out, felt warm. Felt _a_ _live_. Almost like they were still on the Nathan James but with slightly more privacy. And besides a few awkward encounters with Danny in the wee hours of the morning, nobody seemed to mind Teylor being around. Recently Danny even mentioned that it was comforting knowing that Kara wasn't alone here with the baby.

"I thought that you liked your colleagues?" Teylor lowered his homework - a manual on crowd control. With the majority of Vulture Team assigned to the convoy scheduled to depart for Chicago in less than a week, Commander Slattery had decided that they needed a crash course in standard police operations and was currently running them ragged in training. As exhausted as he was, Teylor appreciated the practice. The situation in Connecticut was another stark reminder of how different their current job was from the one that Teylor trained for only a year ago.

"I do." Caro sighed again. She curled up against Teylor's shoulder, obviously exhausted. As a nurse, Caro's skills were in high demand and she was coming off a fourteen hour shift, for the third day in a row. "It's just Melissa."

"Ah." Teylor didn't elaborate. Melissa was, in Caro's own words, her BEC. _Bitch Eating Crackers_. Everything that the girl did annoyed Caro, and Teylor was used to listening to rants over the most menial of things. Like the woman eating crackers _in the wrong way_. "What did she do today?"

"She's engaged," Caro began, and Teylor fought the urge to stiffen. The last few weeks had been idyllic, or would have been if they weren't in the middle of an apocalypse, and Teylor found himself rolling his mother's ring between his fingers, imagining what it would look like on Caro's left hand. Given that he was leaving in a few short days, the temptation to pop the question, to know that she would be here waiting for him when he returned, had become almost overwhelming. Still, Teylor wasn't foolish enough to imagine that Caro was ready to jump into marriage simply because they were effectively co-habitating. If there was one thing he knew, it was that Caro was rarely predictable. "To a man who she's known for a _month_. It's ridiculous, of course. As if that's going to end in anything but a messy divorce. Probably after she pops out a kid or two."

"You may not want to share that view with your brother," Teylor replied, easing up to sit against the headboard. Caro didn't seem to notice, shifting her head to his lap, eyes still closed.

"Danny and Kara are both smart enough to know that it's statistically improbable that their marriage will last more than five years." Caro scoffed. Teylor winced, hoping that she hadn't _actually_ shared that with Danny or, even worse, with Kara. "But that's not what is so annoying."

"Okay?" Teylor asked cautiously, wondering what other faux pas Melissa might have committed.

Caro sat up, ticking things off her fingers as she spoke. "The _worst_ part is that Melissa's insisting on doing everything traditionally. A formal proposal, _after_ he asked her brother," Teylor vaguely recalled that her brother was Melissa's only remaining male relative, "with a ring worth two times his monthly salary. Which, I might add, is longer than they have known each other. Then an engagement party. _And_ pictures. And that's all before the wedding! Which will have eight bridesmaids. It's absurd!"

Teylor chuckled, relaxing as he conceded that on this single point, Caro's complaints about Melissa were not entirely off base. He bumped her shoulder. "There is something to tradition, after all."

Caro actually huffed. "The _very_ last thing that I would ever want is to be wearing some ridiculously overpriced piece of metal that is designed not for my benefit, but to show the world that I _belong_ to someone else. A ring may not mean literal ownership, like it used to in Roman times, but that's certainly the effect. She's _taken_. Off the _market_. Do people listen to themselves? And the fact that only the woman has to wear one? It's all ridiculous."

Teylor stood abruptly, Caro's words fading as he moved to the window to stare blindly at the frozen landscape. His hand closing over the ring that he still wore on his dog tag, his mother's final words to him running through his head over and over again.

_I am leaving my ring for your bride, a woman who I will never meet, but who I already love because she loves you_.

A ring that Caroline Green apparently saw not as a symbol of love, but as one of oppression.

"Tey?"

Caro's voice broke through, and Teylor realized that she was standing next to him, one hand fluttering in the air next to his shoulder. Her hesitation tore through him. What had he done to her to earn such misgiving? What had he done to earn such disgust? God, he had been an idiot to think that this trainwreck of a relationship could be salvaged simply because Caro survived.

_They had been headed for disaster before the Nathan James left for the Arctic._

_And they were headed for disaster again after the Nathan James returned._

"No engagement ring for you, then?" Teylor drawled mockingly.

Caro jerked, her voice tight. "It just seems like a lot of money for something that is mostly for show, you know?"

Teylor squeezed the ring tighter in his hands. _For show_. She was his mother's gift, _h_ _er final gift,_ as meaningless or, even worse, as something to mock. "So no need to ask your ring size then?"

"Of course not," Caro snapped, hesitation gone as she squared her shoulders. She folded her arms across her chest. "I don't know where this is coming from, Teylor. Rings, engagements, fancy weddings, you know I don't need any of that stuff. Things are good the way they are. Right?"

"Glad you feel that way," Teylor retorted, heading for the door. He needed to get out of here before he said - or did - something that he couldn't take back. Something that he would regret. "Because I'll be damned if you ever get your hands on my mama's ring."

As he slammed the door behind him, Teylor realized that he had left the room a minute too late.


	24. Norfolk, Virginia - April 2015

Caro hovered in the doorway with very un-Caro-like uncertainty, a six-pack of beer in one hand and bag of some sort of food, pasta based on the smell, in the other. Teylor stepped back, waving her inside and, for an instant, he was reminded of Caro's first visit to this apartment. That long-ago night when she showed up unexpected with ice cream and sashayed into his living room and his life without an ounce of hesitation. But tonight, unlike the first time she showed up at his door, Caro didn't wiggle her hips as she moved past him to the kitchen, seduction apparently not on the agenda.

"Lasagna?" Caro asked over her shoulder as she gathered two plates and some silverware. Her face was blurry in the flickering candlelight - Teylor hadn't seen a reason to burn through the few working batteries that he had for the flashlights when candles worked just as well - but the look was still there. The hesitation. The fear. _The resignation_. Not all that different from a puppy waiting to be kicked out in the rain.

It was a side of Caro that Teylor didn't recognize, one that seemed foreign to him, antithetical to the gutsy woman he knew Caro to be. One who had the inner strength to not just survive a pandemic, but to help others while doing so. To become a leader.

Still, as Teylor leaned against the table, watching Caro carefully move lasagna onto dishes, Teylor realized that he _had_ seen Caro this way once before. A year ago, the night after her fight with Danny. She had been almost frantic that evening, convinced that her relationship with her brother was permanently fractured.

_Was that what she was afraid of now? That a night to cool off might turn into a year with no contact?_

"This smells good," Teylor commented, although the last thing that he felt like doing was eating. He moved towards the kitchen, arriving in time for her to shove a plate full of food and a beer towards him. He wondered where she found the beer. Not only was alcohol barred from Danny and Kara's house due to Debbie's issues, but there was a general shortage across the city. Apparently more than one person decided that if they were going to die a painful, horrible death, might as well do so with a pleasant buzz. "Couch or table?"

"Couch," Caro responded almost automatically. Except when she was reading her newspapers, Caro rarely sat in a regular chair, preferring to pull her legs up and curl up in a blanket even when the temperature outside was sweltering. The memory brought a smile to his face, one that Caro immediately noticed and asked suspiciously. "What's got you grinning like the Cheshire cat?"

"Remembering you buying all those blankets," Teylor responded, gesturing towards the pile on the end of the couch. There never really seemed much of a point to putting them away when Caro just pulled them out again. And, while he vehemently denied it to Jones, Teylor kind of liked having things around the place that Caro bought.

_If she left it here, that meant she was planning to come back._

"Huh." Caro sat down, twisting her legs up underneath here. "I forgot those were here."

"We haven't been back much," Teylor acknowledged, taking a small bite of the lasagna.

There was a pause. Then, "We had some fun here. You, me and Jones. And the girl-of-the month."

"I would have said girl-of-the-week," Teylor replied, drawing a chuckle. "Doug did know how to have fun."

"Yes." Silence fell, then Caro sat up straighter, her eyes finding his. "I forget sometimes. Or not forget really, I just ... ignore it. Everything that happened. I pretend that Jones is just down the street. That my dad is up in Connecticut. That we're hanging out with Danny and Kara the way I used to hang out Danny and Rebecca. It's just my way of dealing with it, or not dealing with it, I guess. But it doesn't mean that I don't know what you lost. That I don't care."

Teylor considered the words, surprised to realize that he understood. "I think we all do that. Try to find the normal, to go on living."

"Exactly," Caro breathed and she leaned forward, a hand moving to his knee. "I _am_ sorry, Tey. About what I said. I didn't know. About the ring, I mean. About what it meant to you. I'm so very sorry."

"I know."

And he did, of course. Caro might enjoy knocking people down a peg, but she wasn't cruel. How could he be angry at Caro for not knowing about the ring when he never told her what it meant? This was as much on him as it was on her.

Teylor forked up another bite of lasagna, realizing as he did that he had managed to clean his plate despite the stilted atmosphere.

_Maybe there was something to that old saying._

"What are you grinning about now?" Caro asked, more curious than suspicious this time.

Teylor reached over to snag a bite of her food. "The way to a man's heart is his stomach? Guess you might be more traditional than you thought, Caroline Green."


	25. Norfolk, Virginia - May 2015

Teylor leaned against the hood of the jeep, pretending not to see the couple standing on the other side of the vehicle. Danny had one arm wrapped around his wife, while the other stroked the top of baby Frankie's head. Kara looked up at her husband, the words she was speaking too soft for Teylor to hear. But there was no mistaking the look in her eyes; the love, the fear, the resolution.

For the briefest of moments, Teylor felt jealous. Not because he had any interest in Kara - he didn't, and even the idea made him feel awkward - but because Kara was there. Despite their fight, despite all the uncertainty of their relationship and the fact that they said their goodbyes this morning, Teylor couldn't help but wish that Caro was here to send him off the way that Kara was sending Danny off. One last memory, one last kiss.

_A promise that she would be here when he got back._

A movement caught his eye, and Teylor turned his head to see Caro rounding the corner of the command center, her gaze reflecting the same uncertainty that he felt. Without thinking, Teylor stretched out his hand, remaining perfectly still as Caro traversed the fifteen feet that separated them, intertwining their fingers. She was wearing her scrubs, no jacket, apparently having come directly from the hospital.

"You don't have to go." Caro's free hand dug into his sleeve, her eyes wide, her voice husky. "It's not fair. Asking you to go find their families when you know that yours is gone. Everyone will understand if you sit this one out."

This was not a new argument and Teylor rubbed his thumb along her palm. "That's why I have to go, Caro."

She stared, her eyes huge. "I don't understand."

The whispered word hung between them. Teylor wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair, breathing in the fresh scent of soap and wondering how to explain something that he barely understood himself. "I have to go because I've been through it. Because I know what it is like to spend months wondering, always hoping for a miracle, and then to find out that they were dead before we even left the Arctic. If the guys weren't there in Louisiana with me….I'm not sure what I would have done. They're my brothers, Caro. I can't make them go through that alone."

Caro pulled back, although she didn't move her hands from his chest. "How long will you be gone?"

"A month, maybe six weeks. Danny will get word to Kara. She'll let you know where we are."

Caro nodded, firmly, then she leaned up to press a kiss against his lips. "I love you."

The words pounded through his head. "I love you too."

Wolf's voice interrupted the moment. "Time to go, Cruz."

One final kiss, a touch of their hands, and then Caro was moving away and Teylor was sliding into the driver's seat. As they pulled away, Teylor took a moment to look in the rear-view mirror. Caro was standing next to Kara, arms wrapped around her middle, neither woman waving.

_And he wondered whether he would see her again._

They were off the base and at the edge of town before Danny held out a small piece of paper, folded in half. "This is from Kara. You aren't allowed to ask where she got it."

Puzzled, Teylor unfolded the paper. The only words were "Size 6", in rather familiar script, and a small circle. Teylor slid the note into his pocket, returning his attention returning to the empty road, feeling the sudden urge to whistle.

The circle was the size of a ring.


	26. Norfolk, Virginia - July 2015

Teylor moved towards the hospital. He could have gone straight home, well, straight to Danny and Kara's house where he was effectively living, but he suspected (or hoped) that Caro had switched shifts so she wouldn't have to work graveyard on his first night back. They had been gone for more than a month and the sense of contentment that Teylor had felt upon receiving Caro's note had long since vanished, leaving him feeling vaguely apprehensive about his reception. There was no telling what Caro had been doing or thinking while he was gone. For all he knew, she might have changed her mind about their entire relationships and decided to dump him on his ass.

As he approached the nurse's station, he could hear Caro issuing orders to two rather young assistants, probably some of the teenage interns. He stopped in the hallway, lounging against the door jam as he drank in the sight of her standing there in her scrubs, curls pulled back in a clip to keep them off her face. There was no denying the fact that Caro was very good at what she did. Efficient, confident, and organized, Caro had no problem telling others exactly what she wanted done. She would have made an excellent Navy commander – assuming that she didn't get herself kicked out of boot camp for insubordination.

The teens noticed Teylor first, one of them raising her hand to hide a shy smile and the other one winking at him. Neither one alerted Caro to his presence, but she quickly picked up on their distraction.

"Is there something the two of you want to tell me?" Caro's voice was non-nonsense.

"No, but you may want to look behind you," one of them said, pointing towards Teylor as the other girl started giggling. Teylor knew the moment Caro realized it was him, her face shifting from annoyance to elation.

"Teylor!" Caro launched herself at him, arms encircling his neck and legs wrapping around his waist as she buried her head in his shoulder. "You're home!"

Teylor pulled her tightly against him, taking in the warmth of her body, the scent of her shampoo, the feeling of her arms wrapped around him so tightly that it almost hurt. When Caro lifted her face from his shoulder, Teylor realized that she was crying. He lifted one hand to brush away the tears as he set her back on her feet, leaning in to give her a brief kiss, making sure to pull away before it got out of hand.

"I guess I should go away more often if that's the welcome home I can expect," he teased.

Caro stuck her tongue out at him, then frowned. "I have another 45 minutes on my shift."

"And I need a shower and a shave and a fresh set of clothes," Teylor returned.

Caro reached up to touch his cheek, biting down on her bottom lip. "I don't know. The beard is kind of sexy."

Teylor lifted an eyebrow. On the ship he never would have gotten away with it but as part of the land crew...well, Danny certainly wasn't going to say anything and these days even Carlton occasionally rocked the scuff.

"Figured I would head to my apartment to clean up. Swing by when you're done? We can head home together."

"Definitely." With a sexy grin, Caro leaned forward to whisper into his ear. "And there's no reason we have to go right home. Might be nice to have you to myself for a few hours."

Teylor was whistling as he took his leave. While they were gone Commander Garnett managed to get the city water and sewer working again, allowing him the luxury of a lukewarm shower in his own bathroom. Checking the refrigerator, Teylor was pleasantly surprised to find several cans of beer. He cracked one, even though it was well past the expiration date, on the theory that alcohol didn't go bad, it just aged. Before heading into the shower, Teylor stopped before the kitchen table, pulling two well-worn pieces of paper out of his front pocket.

He opened the envelope first, staring down at the familiar loops of his mother's handwriting, re-reading the words that he knew by heart before setting the letter, unfolded, on the table. Next he set down the second piece of paper, the one in Caro's handwriting, listing both the size of her ring finger and providing him with a practical guide in the form of a small circle. Pulling off his dog tags, Teylor removed his mother's ring, rolling in between his fingers before setting it on top of the small circle, which it overlay perfectly.

Teylor took his time cleaning up, blatantly ignoring the five-minute limit on showers (the rule really should be five minutes per day, and since he hadn't showered in over a week, that gave him at least thirty minutes), before pulling on a clean pair of jeans and a long-sleeved polo. Checking his watch, Teylor realized that he still had another twenty minutes before Caro would arrive, and that assumed she left on time. Grabbing another beer from the fridge, Teyler lay down on the bed, closing his eyes and letting his mind drift to the days before he left Norfolk. Not so much the fight with Caro, but her showing up to say goodbye, then giving Danny that piece of paper with her ring size. Whether it meant what he thought, or perhaps hoped, it meant. Whether Caro was ready to take the next step with him, and whether she still felt that way, or if a month apart had given her a far too realistic demonstration of what being a military wife was like.

Teylor wasn't sure how long he lay there, the same questions running through his head over and over, before he heard the apartment door open. Caro entered quietly, and he heard her drop her coat and bags on the chair, probably assuming he was asleep from the lack of light. There was a slight rustling and he knew that she had picked up the papers from the table. He tried to picture what she looked like standing at the table, still wearing her scrubs, maybe having pulled the clip out of her hair so that it fell around her face like a messy halo. She would read the letter once, maybe twice, taking longer than normal as she struggled to decipher the words in her rusty Spanish. Maybe she would roll the ring around in her fingers as she read, the way she and Danny did with coins, both of them seemingly unable to stop fidgeting.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear her enter the bedroom. "How did you do it?"

Teylor's eyes popped open at the question, before slowly sitting up, slightly surprised to see that Caro had taken the time to change into a pair of slacks and one of those fancy blouses that tie around the neck in a knot. Teylor vaguely wondered how difficult it would be to get off before turning his attention back to her question.

"Do what?"

Caro sank down, straddling him, leaning forward until their foreheads touched and he could almost taste the tears that shimmered on her face.

"How did you keep going? I had my mom and Danny and Chris, but you lost so much. Your parents. Your brothers. Your nieces. How did you do it?"

Teylor thought back to those first dark days, when he hadn't been sure that he could keep going. When he had blamed God and the government and himself for what had happened, for letting them die, for not saving them When the only reason that he continued to get up in the morning, the only reason he hadn't walked into his parents' house and never left, was because of Manny and Christopher.

_And the team._

He couldn't abandon them, not when they had already been through so much. For months that was how he had made it through the day, that burning desire not to cause his team, _his brothers_ – still reeling from the loss of Benz and Berchem and Smith and Cossetti and Bivas and Chung and Lynn and Walker – any more pain.

And then in Connecticut, when he saw Caro, everything had changed.

For the first time since that day in Louisiana, he had actually felt a spark of hope. And in the months since, he had started to believe that the words his mother wrote in that letter were not just the delusions of a woman on her death-bed, but a vision of the future. Imagining what it would be like to see his mother's ring adorn another finger, Caro's finger, as they built a new life together.

"The guys kept me going until I found you," Teylor replied, his voice hoarse.

"They were there for you when I couldn't be. I didn't even know you were alive," Caro replied.

Teylor paused, not wanting to ruin the moment, but knowing that it had to be said. "That's why I can't leave the team, the Navy. As long as they are going out there, I have to be with them. Even if it means leaving you for months at a time."

Caro's hands tightened on his biceps as she sucked in a deep breath. She leaned back slightly and he saw the same riotous emotions that he was feeling reflected in her eyes: the love, the fear, the resolution.

"I know that, Tey. I thought about what you said before you left – about needing to be there for them and I get it. It's the same reason I stayed in Cornwall instead of going to Norfolk to look for Danny after my dad died. There were people depending on me. I couldn't leave them behind. The past couple of months were hard, but I survived." Teylor opened his mouth but Caro covered it with her palm. "The only thing… I don't know if I could do this with kids. I saw how hard this was for Kara and …I don't think I could do that. Not right now anyway."

The image of a baby boy with jet black hair and blue-green eyes flashed through Teylor's mind, but he pushed the picture aside. _Someday. Maybe_.

"Well, fortunately, I'm not on the Danny Green family building timeline," Teylor replied lightly. "No reason to rush it. We aren't even married."

And there it was, the question that hung between them. Caro opened her fist to reveal his mother's band.

"I would be honored to wear your mother's ring, to wear your ring," Caro said tearfully. "I didn't know – I didn't understand what it meant to you. And I'm sorry about what I said. I just don't think before I speak sometimes and…"

Teylor raised his hands to frame Caro's face, cutting off the flow of words with a kiss. When their lips parted, Teylor reached down to take the ring from Caro.

"Caroline Green, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Caro held out her left hand, which trembled slightly as he slid the ring on, before drawing her hand up to and kissing each of her fingers and then her palm.

"Yes."


	27. St. Louis - September 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - so ... I suck. A million apologies. For those of you who provided guidance and assistance during this story, I am immensely grateful for your support! xoxo - tmtcltb

Caroline's smile died the instant that Teylor walked in the apartment door. He was expecting the reaction. After all, there was only one reason that he would be in his dress blues at one o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. Well, two, but Teylor was promoted to Petty Officer First Class only last month and the Navy didn't give away promotions like candy. So Caro knew that dress blues meant a meeting and a meeting with the higher-ups meant...

Caro swallowed visibly. "When do you leave?"

Teylor approached tentatively, uncertain of her reaction. In the six weeks after arriving in St. Louis, they had settled into a routine. Although the apartment was technically Rick's, the man had elected to bunk with Wolf since Maria and the boys were settled into the one assigned to Teylor and nobody wanted to displace them. A preview of married life, Teylor thought of the arrangement. Or, at least, married life between deployments. The kind where he came home to Caro every night and woke up next to her every morning.

"The James leaves Saturday."

Caro stepped forward, brushing a piece of lint off his shoulder, not meeting his eyes. "Do you know where you're headed?"

Ignoring the fact that he was going to be spending the next hour ironing wrinkles out of his uniform, Teylor tugged Caroline to him, waiting for her to relax enough to slide her arms around his waist. "We're headed south to Mexico, continuing along the coast of South America and around Cape Horn, before going west to Australia. Shackleton is on its way to Africa as we speak and the Hayward left Los Angeles last week. They're headed up the coast to Alaska, then over to Japan and down the coast of China. Plan is for everyone to meet in the middle. Probably around India."

"So six months?" Her voice was muffled against his jacket, but he thought he heard her sniff.

"Probably nine," he admitted. That time he definitely heard a sniff. "We should be in contact most of the time, though. Just an easy cruise. Hitting high population areas and spots that aren't easily accessible by air."

Caroline's arms tightened around him and she looked up, scowling. "If you even _think_ about dying on me, I will drag you back from the gates of hell _and then kill you myself_. Am I clear?"

Teylor chuckled, reaching out to wipe away a tear from her cheek. "Cross my heart and all that. No dying."

Caro stepped back, although she left one hand resting on his chest. "Do you have to go back to the base today?"

"No, I'm off until we board." Teylor reluctantly released her, turning towards the bedroom. "Let me get changed and then we can..."

"Stop! Stay right there."

He paused, startled by the abrupt change in Caro's tone, but she already had her phone to her ear. "Maria? Yeah, it's me. What are you and the boys doing this afternoon?"

Teylor lounged against the kitchen counter as Caro made several more, very similar, calls. Finished, she turned back towards him. "Everyone will meet us at City Hall at four o'clock."

"For what?" He asked, although he suspected that the grin crossing his face was giving him away.

Caroline rolled her eyes. "To get married, of course. There is absolutely no way that I am letting you out of my sight again without having some kind of legal right to know where you are and what you're doing. Now stay here while I get changed."

Taking in Caro's ensemble - black jeans that made her ass look fantastic, a white flowing top, and gold sandals - Teylor raised an eyebrow. "You look pretty damn good right now."

"No, no, no." Caro was shaking her head. "Some formalities are important. At the very least, we need to look good for the pictures. In ten years, I'm not telling our kids that we got married in flip-flops."

And Teylor knew, without having to ask, that they were both thinking about the past. About friends who were gone. About in-laws who they would never meet. About Connecticut and Norfolk and everything in-between. About how the last time the Nathan James shipped out, the whole world changed.

Teylor checked his watch and began unbuttoning his jacket. Caro scowled. "What are you doing?"

"Ironing." Teylor opened the pantry, only noticing when he flipped the ironing board down that Caroline hadn't moved. He looked up, iron in hand, to see her watching him with an odd smile. He frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," Caro shook her head, heading towards the bedroom. At the door she hesitated, then turned, voice softening. "I'm going to miss you, Teylor."

He swallowed hard, memorizing the way she looked right now, in this moment. Something to remember on those lonely nights that were coming. "I'm going to miss you too."

As Caroline moved into the bedroom, Teylor began the familiar task of smoothing out every wrinkle from his jacket. Caroline was right about one thing. This was the time to make new memories and start new traditions. Not to erase the past or to replace all that was gone, but rather to built a new future. One that they would create together.

Starting today.


	28. January 2016 - Off the Coast of Australia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - only of minor relevance but in the Home universe, Frankie is a girl (yes, I guess wrong but I'm sticking with it, lol). xoxo - tmtcltb

"I should go," Caro said as the conversation began to wind down. The video feed had stopped working as the Nathan James drew close to Australia, but at least they still talk. After assuring Caroline that he would rarely be out of touch during this cruise, Teylor had been forced to eat those words too many times already. "I promised Kara that I would watch Frankie tonight so she could sleep."

"Remember what happened last time you tried that?" Teylor asked, amused. "Frankie screamed all night. You claimed that she hated you."

"She was teething," Caro countered. "Besides, this time I'm prepared. I have cookies. And lollipops."

Teylor was unsure of the wisdom of feeding a one-year-old lollipops but decided to keep that to himself. "No skin off my back. I have a nice quiet cabin filled with three snoring guys. Practically a lullaby in comparison."

Although he would have taken a screaming baby in a second if it meant seeing Caro in person. Being able to really talk to her, no worries about the signal cutting out or twenty-hundred and nineteen other people eavesdropping. After all, it took exactly three seconds for the entire Nathan James to know that Davis was going to be a dad. What Teylor wouldn't give right now to be able to see Caro, to touch her, to know for sure that she was doing okay. That she wasn't hiding things or shading them for his benefit.

But Caro was still speaking and Teylor didn't want to waste a second of their precious time together, even if it was just talking while nine thousand miles apart. "You can laugh all you want but I have no intention of being as nice as Kara and taking all the night shifts. You should plan on splitting middle of the night wake-ups 50/50. Actually, 60/40. You'll owe me for being an incubator."

"Is this your way of telling me something?" Teylor teased, knowing that Caro was far too direct to beat around the bush if she actually was pregnant.

Caro gave a long sigh, one he recognized as false annoyance. "Unlike my brother, I do know how birth control works. Although when the time comes, I might ask Captain Slattery to tell you the news, just for shits and giggles. I feel like he would bring an appropriate amount of shock and terror to the situation."

"I give, I give. Anyone but Slattery. Or Chandler," he added as an afterthought. Just the idea was enough to induce heart palpations and Teylor felt a moment of sympathy for Danny.

"Then Commander Garnett it is," Caro replied without hesitation.

Teylor was still laughing when he ended the call several minutes later, unable to banish the image of Caro holding a baby boy with jet black hair like his papa and green-blue eyes like his mama from his mind.

Tonight, for the first time since the Nathan James left the Arctic, Teylor didn't feel torn between the desire to be with here with his brothers and the desire to be home with Caro. Yesterday, Teylor finished his mission. Not the Nathan James' mission, but his own personal mission. Yesterday, Wolf was finally reunited with his mother, his brothers and sister. And, in that moment, Teylor knew the task that he set for himself back in Louisiana, when the team stood by him as he buried his parents and brother and sister-in-law and nieces, was done. After lying his family to rest, Teylor had sworn that he would not let any of his brothers go through that kind of agony without him, and he hadn't. He had been there for Green and Burk and Tex and Rick. And yesterday he was there for Wolf. They had all found their families, or at least discovered what had happened to them. And, as he watched Wolf hug his mother, Teylor felt a sense of peace.

His enlistment was up next month, and Teylor was not going to re-up. He would miss the Nathan James, the team, his friends. But, at the end of the day, he missed Caroline and the life that they were building together more. He missed Maria and Manny and Christopher. Hell, he even missed St. Louis.

_He was ready to go home_.


	29. February 2016 - the Nathan James, South Pacific

"Another pillow?"

Teylor turned his head, trying to ignore how much it hurt, knowing that the admission of pain would result in Doc Rios giving him something that would promptly put him back to sleep. And Teylor could not take the chance of being incapacitated right now, not with the hostages still out there. He had to be ready to go at a moment's notice, pounding head or otherwise. Next to him, Green stood holding a stack of pillows from the crew lounge. Teylor pushed himself to a half-sitting position using the pillows as support, the best that he could manage right now. "Thanks."

"No." Danny paused. "Thank you. For volunteering to pull the nixie."

Teylor looked up. "Wolf told you?"

Danny actually snorted. "It wasn't hard to guess." He reached into his pocket, pulling out an envelope. One that Teylor immediately recognized. The letter he wrote to Caro, before. _Just in case._

"Keep it."

Danny stared down at the envelope for a minute before sliding it back into his pocket. "Why did you do it?"

Teylor let his eyes drift shut, considering the question. "All those orphans in St. Louis, they got to me. I kept thinking about how close Manny and Christopher came to joining them. I didn't want that to happen to Frankie."

Danny was silent for a moment. "You know that my sister will never speak to me again if something happens to you."

Given his pounding head, the last thing that Teylor wanted to deal with was Danny and Caroline's convoluted relationship, but he couldn't let this moment pass. Green's words from so long ago echoing in his head.

_Just ignore Caroline when she gets in a mood. She doesn't care. Gives her time to cool down._

"Don't let her push you away."

Danny looked started. "What?"

Teylor opened his eyes. "If something happens to me, don't let Caroline push you away. Don't wait for her to calm down and come to you. She hates it when you ignore her, but she can't admit that so she acts like she doesn't care. And I don't want her to be alone."

Green nodded, gaze far away for a moment, before it swung back to Teylor. "You're good for her. Good with her, I mean. You seem to understand her in a way that I ... just don't. Caro's easier to handle when you're around."

"Nobody could ever call Caro _easy_ ," Teylor replied, enjoying the way Danny choked on the double-entendre. He would have to tell Caroline about this conversation the next time that they spoke. She would definitely get a kick out of her brother's reaction.

But Danny didn't rise to the bait. "Thank you for being there for her when I wasn't." Then he narrowed his eyes. "And no more concussions."

"Or you'll kick my ass?" Cruz asked, slightly amused.

"Hell no," Danny replied. "Caroline's wrath is far worse than anything that I could possibly do to you. Just don't come crawling to me for help afterwards. You are on your own."

Chuckling, Teylor shifted on his bunk. "So what's a man got to do around here for some entertainment?"

Danny rose. "I might be able to rummage up a pack of cards and some players if you're up for it."

"Sounds good." Teylor waited until the door was open before he spoke again. "Oh, and Green, make sure to get your wallet. You still owe me twenty bucks from last time."


	30. February 2016 - St. Louis

Teylor blinked, staring at the popcorn ceiling in puzzlement. If this was how heaven looked, he had quite a few questions for his brother Mas.

Then the ceiling was replaced by a petite brunette waving a small flashlight in his eyes, and Teylor realized that he must be hallucinating. What else could explain Doctor Scott being in the middle of some god-forsaken jungle? Except, Teylor realized, he wasn't in the jungle either, if the ceiling and the beige walls were to be believed.

"Teylor, do you hear me?"

Teylor tried to remember if auditory hallucinations were a common part of dying, but all he could remember were stories about being drawn towards a bright light at the end of the hallway. He definitely wasn't being drawn towards the light Doctor Scott was shining in his direction, which felt more akin to being stabbed with hot pokers.

"Doctor Scott?"

The words were garbled, almost unrecognizable, his throat burning with every word. And then Doctor Scott disappeared, and another face appeared. One the Teylor never thought he would see again.

_Caroline._

He opened his mouth, but no words emerged. Teylor shifted, feeling a burning pain in his neck. If he were hallucinating, you would think that he could have come up with something better than a beige room with bad lighting and an exhausted looking wife.

_Did that mean..._

Caroline's eyes glittered with tears. "Took you long enough to wake up. I would smack you if Rachel wasn't here to see. Didn't I tell you that you weren't allowed to get killed? You're supposed to die of a broken heart _after_ me, you idiot."

_Was it possible that this was real?_

Teylor tried to speak, but his throat was painfully raw. Finally he managed to croak. "What? Where?"

"We're in St. Louis," Caroline explained, as though that made any sense. She lifted a cup, placing the straw in his mouth. The cool water felt amazing on his throat, and he heard himself groan. He took another sip, drinking in the sight she made standing there. She looked exhausted, her hair pulled back into a messy bun, black shirt wrinkled beyond belief, eyes shining with tears.

_And she was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen._

"St. Louis?" He whispered a moment later.

"Yup." Caro nodded. "Took Jesse three hops but she got you up to Korea. Rios literally held your neck the whole way so the wound wouldn't reopen. Then a med-evac from Osan. Rachel hasn't left your side in a week. Apparently she has a reputation to uphold and letting you die would be a black mark on her record."

Teylor managed to lift a hand, feeling the thick bandages that wound around his neck and upper chest. Doctor Scott reappeared. "Please avoid touching the wound, Teylor. Lieutenant Green's stitching left something to be desired and, regrettably, it was far too dangerous to reopen the wound upon your arrival here in St. Louis."

" _Danny_ stitched me up?" Teylor felt like he was repeating the same thing over and over and, yet, the idea of being here - _being alive_ \- still felt so unbelievable.

"I walked Lieutenant Green through the process via radio prior to your evacuation from the island," Doctor Scott explained. She paused, then continued whatever she was doing that required her to keep flashing that damn light in his eyes. "And while his quick thinking saved your life, there are likely to be some long-term health consequences as the result of the delay in receiving formal medical treatment."

_Health consequences?_ Teylor quickly wiggled his toes, thankful when they moved upon command. "Like what?"

"Not paralysis." Caro chuckled, patting his legs, although he could see the rings under her eyes. "Things like dizziness, increased risk of stroke, vertigo. Danny had to pull the sides of the artery together to get it stitched and it's now smaller, to put it simply."

Doctor Scott's face became, if possible, more serious. "Unfortunately, the risk of the artery rupturing in the future is greatly increased, although we will not know for sure until more time has passed."

Teylor blinked, reading between the lines. "So I'm out."

Apparently done torturing him with the light, Doctor Scott switched it off. "You appear to be stable for the moment. I will leave the two of you alone to talk."

As Doctor Scott left, Caro intertwined her fingers with Teylor's hand. "You won't be able to go back to the James. Although Admiral Chandler mentioned the possibility of a training or desk position. Perhaps working with Kara."

Teylor managed to lift a hand, reaching out to touch Caro's cheek. "I was already planning on leaving. Told you back in Connecticut. I just needed a little time."

A tear leaked down Caro's cheek, then another. "I thought you wanted to stay with the guys. To help them."

"I did," Teylor acknowledged, wiping away a tear, rubbing his thumb across her lip. "But I've done that. I went to Connecticut and Iowa and Chicago and even Australia to find their families. And now it's time to come home to you. To Maria and Manny and Christopher. To be with my family. Maybe even to expand it a little."

Caro's grip on his hand was painful. "You mean it?"

Teylor started to nod before realizing how much it hurt. "I made the decision before we left Australia."

"Thank you for coming home to me," Caroline whispered, leaning down to give him a soft kiss.

"I love you, Caroline."

"I love you too."

x

x

THE END


End file.
